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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

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— — — • 

Chap... Copyright So. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



BY 

HORATIO W. DRESSER 

Methods and Problems 
of Spiritual Healing. 

i6mo 

The Power of Silence. 

i6mo $1-25 

The Perfect Whole. 

i6mo $1.25 

Voices of Hope. 

i6mo ....... $1.25 

In Search of a Soul. 

i6mo $1.25 

The Heart of It. 

i6mo i .75 



METHODS AND PROBLEMS 
OF SPIRITUAL HEALING 



HORATIO W. DRESSER 



BY 



Author of "The Power of Silence/' "The Perfect Whole," 
" In Search of a Soul," " Voices of Hope" 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
NEW YORK AND LONDON 
Gbe Iknicfcerbocfcer ©teas 

1899 






27841 



Copyright, 1899 

BY 

HORATIO W. DRESSER 

TWO OOPtES REC-lV£0. 




Ube "Knickerbocker pteea, Hew Korfe 



PREFACE. 

The author is not in the practice of mental 
healing, nor does he deem himself competent to 
give advice concerning specific application of the 
mental cure. He is not a follower of any sect, 
and does not subscribe to the full creed of those 
who advocate mental remedies in the cure of dis- 
ease. He is simply a truth-seeker; and the fol- 
lowing pages contain the results of fifteen years 
of observation, during which it has been his privi- 
lege to witness the successful application of the 
principles he advocates. The purpose of the 
book is quite as much to stimulate thought as 
to offer practical suggestions ; for the entire sub- 
ject is still in its infancy, and the greatest good 
the author can hope to accomplish is to promote 
investigation. H w D< 

Boston, February, i8gg. 



I. 

" He who is made alive in heart is whole." 

The subject of healing is in many respects the 
most difficult question with which the student of 
spiritual thought has to deal, since there is such 
wide diversity of opinion in regard to it, and be- 
cause in its higher aspects the experience itself is 
in large part indescribable. There is much that 
cannot be told, and much that would be of little 
value even if it could be put into words, for the 
reason that each must perceive its reality through 
individual experience in order to know what it 
means. Nearly all the problems of life are, in fact, 
involved in this question. The whole subject is so 
complicated, and in a sense still so obscure, that 
one is at a loss where to begin, what to regard as 
accepted fact, and what to reject as mere theory. 

Glowing accounts of cures by the mental method 
may be had in abundance ; and there are thousands 
who are ready to give evidence that they have 
been not only entirely healed, but permanently 
converted to the philosophy of mental healing. 
But the simple facts, shorn of personal bias and 
stated in scientific language, are not so readily 
obtainable. Yet, as the same difficulties are in 
large part encountered whenever one seeks funda- 



mental truth, one may as well make the effort here 
as elsewhere. I shall therefore treat the subject 
in a general, often in a sceptical and somewhat 
superficial way, approaching the real problem by 
degrees, and suggesting meanwhile some of the 
secondary questions which the central problem 
itself presents. 

But first let me confess the sense of wonder 
which attaches to the entire process even after one 
has made it the study of years. The subject is, in 
fact, very much like that of any specific attempt to 
wrest from the universe every detail of one of its 
secrets : something always escapes us. When 
Nature wakes from her long winter's sleep, and 
vegetation expands and grows in the light of the 
warm summer's sun, what causes this marvellous 
change ? Can anybody tell ? The scientific man 
may enumerate the steps whereby the great trans- 
formation takes place, just as he may analyze the 
physical basis of life. But what is the dormant 
life itself, what is the hidden force without which 
the nicely adapted substances are mere collections 
of chemicals ? Apparently, we know a great deal 
about every factor except the one which somehow 
animates and uses them all. 

Likewise with the phenomena of healing. One 
may easily describe the general conditions of heal- 
ing, the experience of becoming open to spiritual 
power, of directing this power to the patient 



through concentration or suggestion, as well as 
the physiological process accompanying the mental 
change. But are we not a bit hasty when, neglect- 
ing the real point at issue, we confidently affirm 
that one factor in particular has wrought the cure ? 
This favorite factor of ours, — faith, auto-sugges- 
tion, telepathy, the prayer of silence, or what not, 
— like a drug heralded as a great specific, may 
have been but the last in a long chain of help- 
ful causes which played only the culminating part. 
Or the case might have been like that mentioned 
by Dr. Hillis, of Chicago, in a recent sermon on 
healing : — 

In Iowa a gentleman at whose home a reception was 
given, wheeled out to the porch the chair of his mother, who 
had not taken a step for many years. During the gayeties 
of the evening a hanging lamp fell with a crash to the floor. 
When the flames had been subdued and quiet restored, the 
mother was found standing in the room, having lost her 
rheumatism and her pain. Years before nature had cured 
the ailment, but the woman waited for some event or per- 
son to rouse the dormant will. Had some scientist or faith 
healer or theosophist happened along, a cure almost miracu- 
lous would have lent the healer great fame. 

Obviously, the matter of credit must be set 
aside ; for at best the physician is only an instru- 
ment of the healing power. " We amuse the pa- 
tient, while Nature heals the disease," said the 
wise French physician, speaking for his profession. 



8 



Admittedly, every slightest circumstance, the en- 
tire state at the time, is involved ; and, in order to 
return a full answer to the question, one must con- 
sider the nature of mind, the constitution of 
matter, the nature of pleasure and pain, of health 
and disease, the ultimate meaning of suffering, and 
the experiences of healers of different schools. 

Let us, then, consider a number of specific 
cases, and examine them as much in detail as pos- 
sible, in order to tabulate the various factors ; for 
the day is past when one may safely generalize 
about mental healing, or even about disease. Dis- 
eases can no more be classed under one head as 
" errors of the mind " than as physical entities, or 
under the terms of some compromise between 
these extremes. A man's trouble may have as 
little foundation as the suggestions which caused 
the death of the English criminal, in the instance 
so often referred to ; and it may be cured by 
a simple suggestion. His entire nature, his 
whole complaining, nervous, or apprehensive habit 
of thought maybe involved, so that nothing less 
than a complete change of living will suffice, 
in which case he must be gradually taught to see 
that he creates his own misery. Or the trouble 
may be so largely physical that mere enlighten- 
ment would never cure him. In most cases of 
mental cure the doctor is inclined to doubt if 
there really was a disease, and in the same way 



9 

the mental healers stand by each other in opposi- 
tion to medical practice. 

According to some, disease comes from germs : 
others deem it the result of obsession. Some will 
tell you that all diseases come from troubles of the 
stomach ; in other words, indigestion and insuffi- 
cient mastication. Others trace all disease to 
excessive bodily heat. Some diseases, like ty- 
phoid fever, apparently have to run their course, 
even under mental treatment, although their 
course may be greatly hastened. An easily influ- 
enced person may be cured of a dread disease far 
more readily than an obstinate one can be relieved 
of some slight malady. Only daughters and 
wealthy ladies who board prove difficult patients, 
while those who have no time or money to be ill 
are scarcely in need of a physician. A credulous 
person is an easy subject for mental treatment; 
while the highly cultivated intellect deems the 
therapeutic suggestions absurd, and is therefore 
slow to respond. The disease of a baby may 
come entirely from its mother, who must be healed 
before the child can be cured. And so on 
through a long list of interesting facts, all pointing 
to the conclusion that few cases are alike, while in 
most instances neither the disease nor its cure is 
to be described apart from the temperament of 
the individual. 

But let us take a typical case, and consider the 



10 



factors of cure in the patient. The sufferer is 
troubled by a malady which originated in fear, 
nervous shock, suppressed emotion, accident, 
haunting mental pictures, or some other cause 
which threw mind and body out of harmony. The 
first trouble was probably of slight consequence, 
and might have been either mental or physical or 
both, but through misunderstanding of the sen- 
sation of pain, and by wrong treatment, it has now 
been magnified into a disturbance which the medi- 
cal doctors cannot cure, and which the patient 
fears may lead to fatal disease. 

For usually those who try the mental cure turn 
to it as a last resort. They have lost faith in 
drugs, and this is a decided gain. They are un- 
certain about the new method, but are willing to 
try it. This is also favorable, for where there is 
receptivity the healer's task is much the easier. 
Some, indeed, experiment with mental healing to 
please their friends. But it is better, on the 
whole, that the patient have faith, that he be per- 
sonally eager to give the new cure a fair trial. 
Occasionally, it is true, people have been cured of 
drunkenness and other habits by members of the 
family who treated them unbeknown. Still, if 
there be not conscious willingness to be helped, 
there must at least be sympathy, affinity, subcon- 
scious openness of some sort ; and usually there is 
unconscious co-operation. 



II 



Receptivity, then, we may note as one of the 
factors instrumental in effecting a cure. The 
patient's disposition, as we have seen, is another 
factor; for people vary, from those who are 
naturally so rigid that they will not yield any con- 
dition till forced to relax, to those who are so 
pliable that one must avoid bringing too much 
power to bear at a time. Receptivity is, there- 
fore, a variable factor, and is closely connected 
with the degree of emotion ; coldness of intellect 
and non-receptivity being found together. 

Auto-suggestion in the form of expectant atten- 
tion is another noteworthy factor. The mental 
healer requests the patient to assume a comfort- 
able physical attitude, and " become as receptive as 
possible." This self-induced attitude is somewhat 
analogous to hypnosis, which is defined by Dr. 
H. A. Parkyn as "a state of mental quiescence in 
which the suggestion of the operator has an exag- 
gerated effect upon the mind of the subject. " In 
such a state, even the absurd affirmations and ne- 
gations, "You have no headache," "You have no 
head/' are as effective as gospel truth, if the mind 
accepts them ; for the desideratum is to make an 
impression upon the mind consciously or subcon- 
sciously. When the patient is suffering from 
acute pain or fears some "uncanny" result, 
the auto-suggestion is, of course, unfavorable. In 
such cases, and in instances of " real " disease, the 
cure must be wrought almost wholly by the healer, 



12 



frequently amidst the opposition and counter- 
suggestions of relatives, friends, and the family 
physician, who has given up the case as "hope- 
less." Here, again, it is impossible to generalize. 

Yet in many cases the desire to be healed has so 
much to do with the cure, the expectancy of relief, 
and the effort to help one's self by looking away 
from the trouble, that it is well always for the 
patient to follow the directions of the healer as 
faithfully as possible. Occasionally the patient's 
faith is sufficient to accomplish a large part of the 
work. Sometimes a former patient will write for 
absent help, and the healer will forget the appoint- 
ment. But so familiar is the patient with the 
general requirements that the right conditions will 
be observed almost unconsciously, and relief will 
come without the aid of any factor but this faith 
and receptivity. 

I have known of former patients who asked the 
privilege of coming occasionally to sit in the chair 
where they had once received treatment, as they 
found it easier to lay off their burdens and become 
receptive. It is probable that, if we could assume 
the attitude of complete receptivity to the healing 
power, if we could become as a little child, this 
would be sufficient to produce the cure. The 
animal who has been injured and lies down quietly 
until Nature heals the hurt illustrates this recep- 
tivity. Wonderful cures are wrought among the 
ignorant and superstitious simply because they 



13 

have not the doubts which put barriers in the way 
of the healing power. 

Here, then, is an aspect of the subject which it 
is well to bear constantly in mind. Frequently the 
whole matter is in the patient's hands ; and it is 
possible to help one's self on any occasion if one 
will remove the obstacles to Nature's resident 
restorative power, — the fear, doubt, anxiety, ten- 
sion, all states of mind tending to draw one into 
self, to shut in and contract where one should open 
out and expand. Even in cases of chronic invalid- 
ism, where, for example, the person has been un- 
able to walk and is gradually restored to health 
through the agency of a healer, there is often little 
apparent change until the person is convinced of 
the cure and is willing to make conscious effort. 
It might therefore be stated as a general law that 
the patient stands in need of the healer only to the 
degree that he either fails to help or is temporarily 
incapable of relying upon himself. Yet one should 
avoid the erroneous conclusion which some have 
reached, — namely, that the whole process is subjec- 
tive, — for in most cases the essential impulse is 
given by another mind. 

" Why should we shrink where nature never shrinks ? 
Why should we not take heart of her whose heart 
Enfolds the germ of all things, — dare to stand 
With spirits bared before the ineffable light, 
As she against the glory of the dawn 
Lifts naked arms, all-welcoming the day ? " 



II. 

When we have given credit to the factors of 
cure in the patient, — desire to be healed, faith, 
temperament, receptivity, auto-suggestion, expec- 
tant attention, and the rest, — what shall we say of 
those cases in which all this proved insufficient, 
and the patient was cured by a mental healer? 
Let us return to our typical case ; namely, the per- 
son who, receptive and willing, but unable to help 
himself, comes for silent treatment. What are 
the factors on the healer's side ? 

In the first place there is desire to heal, sym- 
pathy, a longing to play one's part in Nature's won- 
derful process. The healer has himself suffered, 
found relief by mental means, and knows what it 
is to be freed from bondage to fear, medicine, and 
doctors. He is not a believer in disease as some- 
thing that is likely to seize a person externally. 
He believes that suffering is neither an affliction 
nor a necessity, but a condition brought about 
through ignorance, wrong ways of living and think- 
ing ; that one may learn to take life so as to avoid 
sickness altogether, finally overcoming all friction, 
so that an experience which would once have 
seemed a curse shall now prove a blessing by the 



is 

way in which it is received ; in short, that our 
understanding or mental attitude is of more con- 
sequence in our reaction upon life than any and all 
of its material conditions. Accordingly, his first 
effort is to change the mental attitude of the pa- 
tient. 

This may often be effected by audible explana- 
tion ; as, for example, when the patient is unchari- 
table or is suffering from suppressed grief, one can 
in a few quiet words indicate the wiser way. But 
we will assume that the average patient of whom 
we are speaking really requires the silent help. 
The patient comes in the willing attitude before 
described. The healer is in a sympathetic state. 
If intuitive, he does not ask questions of the pa- 
tient, and will not permit a rehearsal of symptoms 
and sufferings ; for this will tend to refresh the 
troubles, fears, and mental pictures. The past is 
passed, and the patient should now be concerned 
solely with the ideal future. The healer sits by 
the patient, and asks him to become quiet and 
receptive. The patient is not to force himself to 
be still, but become restfully expectant, and to 
think rather of the healer than of himself. 

The healer thereupon turns the mind aside from 
the noisy world without, excludes sound, light, and 
physical feeling as much as possible, and rises to 
the kingdom of the inner self, or soul, — just as one 
might ascend a mountain summit in order to sur- 



i6 



vey the world from a higher region. As a rule, 
people find it difficult to concentrate and withdraw 
the attention from the outer world, because many- 
thoughts rush in upon the mind. But after a time 
it becomes almost instinctive to focus the attention 
on that Power which, always with the soul, only 
fi need A be recognized in order to come actively upper- 
most in consciousness. Any uplifting thought that 
will enable one to realize the omnipresence of love, 
wisdom, goodness, power, will bring about the re- 
sult, and it is best not to commit one's self to a 
set form of words ; nor should one approach any 
two cases alike, but seek the wisdom which applies 
to a particular case. Yet oftentimes the same 
realization, such as, " In him we live and move and 
have our being," is the most helpful thought when 
entering the silence ; and frequently one uses the 
same words or suggestions with which to command 
one's self and quiet the troubled atmosphere of the 
patient, — namely, " Peace, be still, peace, peace ! " 
There is, however, in the more spiritual proc- 
ess no reasoning, no attempt to transfer definite 
thoughts, and no effort to control or hypnotize the 
mind of the patient. It is rather the healer's place 
to bring down a gentle, soothing atmosphere about 
the patient, from which the latter shall absorb ac- 
cording to his need and receptivity. The spiritual 
healer is not himself the all-powerful mind or fac- 
tor: he is the willing instrument of the higher 



i7 

Power. His desire is to become spiritually open 
and free : then to induce the same state in the 
patient. 

If, therefore, one uses certain ideal suggestions 
or passages of Scripture, in order to hold the 
thought in the right direction, it should be remem- 
bered that the words are only stepping-stones to the 
higher plane. It is not the word or thought that is 
the reality : it is the living essence which the word 
or thought suggests. That essence, or Spirit, is ever 
with us. God is here within, inseparable from the 
soul ; and, when the soul feels the divine presence, 
it possesses the thing itself, and has little need of 
words. To realize this oneness with Deity, and 
withdraw the consciousness from all that is painful 
and morbid, is the substance of the silent spiritual 
method. 

The first step, let me repeat, is to direct the 
consciousness toward the omnipresent Spirit, to 
become peaceful, quiet, poised, master of the situ- 
ation. When one is thus open and free, one may 
turn to the sufferer, and in the same gentle yet 
strong and stimulating spirit, envelope him with an 
atmosphere so powerful that no inharmonious con- 
dition either of mind or body can long withstand it. 
It is a well-established fact that the power thus di- 
rected toward the patient meets resistance where 
the sufferer is in discord, — that is, mind and body 
are open, free, responsive, except in particular 



i8 



regions ; and here the healing power meets an 
obstacle. Nature is trying to restore equilibrium, 
and meets opposition at this restricted point. 
Even if one knows nothing about the patient's 
trouble at the outset, the healing experience will 
soon reveal the location of it, because one's 
thought directed toward the patient will meet this 
obstruction, the healing power will bear down 
upon it, until gradually the condition begins to 
change in somewhat the same way that ice melts 
under the heat of the sun. The thought of the 
healer directs and focuses the power where it is 
most needed, and holds it there persistently, with 
the idea that the condition is gradually changing, 
that the patient is giving up his fears, haunting 
mental pictures, and painful consciousness of sen- 
sation, and becoming open to the higher Power. 
This is continued until an impression is made, 
until enough has been accomplished to start the 
right reaction ; then the change continues sub- 
consciously, even after the treatment is finished. 

The healer is like the person with good sight 
who offers kindly assistance to a blind man. The 
one with good sight sees the way open before him 
as he proceeds, and therefore steps along confi- 
dently. In this spirit of confidence one should 
guide the sufferer, because one knows the way, 
because of what one knows about the human 
mind, the effect of thought, the nature of disease, 



19 

and the rich possibilities of our spiritual existence. 
One should not dwell upon symptoms and doubts, 
but see the otitcome, think of the patient as he 
ought to be, in good health, poised, calm, and 
strong. One should be stronger in the right 
thought than the sufferer is in the wrong, pene- 
trating persistently to the very core of the dis- 
turbance, opening and expanding it, until the new 
life is started with a thrill throughout mind and 
body. 



III. 

Here the question arises, Does the healer really- 
open the mind to an outside force which is then 
directed toward the patient, or is this force resi- 
dent in the healer ? Or, assuming that there is a 
definite suggestion given or a thought transferred 
to the patient, does this thought merely quicken 
the dormant healing power in the patient ? Prob- 
ably many healers would maintain that power or life 
is actually absorbed from without by the healer, 
and also in the process of self-help. At any rate, 
a state of mind is aroused of which it is desirable 
that the patient receive the subconscious benefit. 
Whether there be definite thought transference or 
simply the consciousness of concentrating power 
toward the patient, the result is evidently the 
same; that is, the thought probably does not 
travel. It is the motion or vibration which is 
transferred, obviously through a substance finer 
than the ether) in which our minds are bathed. 
And, if the healing power is omnipresent, there is 
no question of outside and inside, the essential 
being the establishment of a centre of activity for 
that power in the patient. 

We may then consider the healing power as 



21 



potentially resident in both healer and patient. It 
may even be in a state of tension in the patient, — 
the natural tendency of the organism to right 
itself, — the pain being a sign that this tendency 
is interfered with by wrong treatment, fear, ner- 
vousness, the effort to draw in and bear the pain. 
The mental treatment removes this opposition, and 
co-operates with Nature by giving the mind a 
healthier direction, and hastening the activity of 
the healing power, 

It is essential to remember that there is a soul 
or higher nature craving expression, a latent ideal 
toward which our forces are persistently striving. 
If the patient is unaware of this evolutionary 
process, this tendency toward the perfect, the 
power is resisted and confined, and suffering re- 
sults. If one is undeveloped on the affectional 
side of one's nature, if the intellect is uncultivated, 
or if one is in need of physical exercise, this unde- 
veloped or one-sided region is the seat of creative 
activity. Nature is striving through us to realize 
a type, to actualize a rounded ideal. She is irre- 
sistibly persistent in this endeavor; and, if she 
cannot make an impression upon us by gentle 
means, she must resort to something vigorous or 
painful. There is a sort of natural rhythm of 
development. Those who are well developed and 
wise move with it. Those who are unfinished in 
any particular meet it with resistance. The ef- 



22 



fort, therefore, both in helping another and in self- 
help, should be to co-operate with this natural 
process. This may be done by trying to picture 
the ideal. 

One cannot accomplish much at a time. One 
should select one tendency after another, master 
it, and be content with moderate growth. It is 
the straining after ideals which is the bane of 
many sensitive minds. But it is not so much 
growth that we need as realization. Therefore 
there is no means of self-help more effectual than 
to settle quietly into the living present. It may 
be assumed in every case of illness and of pain 
that there is tension of some sort, a reaching out 
toward the future in fear or anxiety, a too eager 
desire to accomplish. There is worriment over 
financial matters or nervous resignation to endure 
pain. We are constantly wishing that some one 
might come or that something might happen, and 
this constant discontent causes an equally constant 
waste of energy. If this strain can be removed, 
the resistance to Nature's forces will cease. 

Put yourself entirely in the present, trustfully, 
restfully, calmly. You are an immortal soul, and 
have all eternity before you. Time is of no real 
consequence : it is simply a matter of mathemati- 
cal convenience. Space, too, has little meaning 
for the soul. There is no place in the wide 
universe where there is more wisdom and power 



23 

than here in this living present. The omniscient 
God is here, the source of all life and gooclness. 
He is unlimited by space, unhampered by time. 
You are eternally a part of him and of his life. 
You stand individually for some aspect of wisdom 
and power which no other soul can represent as 
well. Your experience is a progressive awakening 
to the consciousness of that Power, and with the 
discovery of greater power comes greater ability to 
express it. Peace, then. Trust, and be receptive 
to that Power. Do not nervously strive to grow, 
but let the soul expand. Let Nature and the sub- 
conscious mind do their utmost for you, while you 
devote your conscious thought to realization of the 
divine presence, to ways and means of making that 
presence known among your fellow-men. 

Nothing is more fundamental, more effectual, 
than such an act of will or concentrated attention. 
Let the outer universe be as real as it may, let 
the disease be a physical malady, if you will, the 
fact remains that all this is known only through 
consciousness, that we are really living a life of 
mind, and that it is the will which is the active 
cause or directive force. The life force is con- 
sciousness. It is consciousness fixed in a given 
direction which enables us to form habits, to learn 
an art or science. It is consciousness misled and 
misdirected which has built the disease from which 
we wish to be free, and consciousness must undo 



24 

what it has done by seeking a new and healthier 
direction. 

This shifting of attention is very much the same 
in its effect as though one were to turn the body 
squarely around and walk in the opposite direction. 
The act of will is slight which causes the change, 
but it carries the whole activity of the being with 
it. Or it is like an absorbing story or play which 
holds the attention so that one forgets time, place, 
and all else; the difference being this, — that by 
choosing the thought of oneness with God and 
eternity you may make the changed state of mind 
permanent by opening the mind and receiving new 
life and power directly from the fountain-head. 
The thought of oneness with God, the realization of 
the rounded ideal, broadens the consciousness, lifts 
one to a wider realm ; and this is needed above all 
else. For probably in all cases of illness there is 
a contraction in some part of the body, either in 
brain and nerves or in nerves and muscles. The 
atoms are drawn too closely together, and there 
must be expansion of body. This results from the 
elevation of thought to the plane of spiritual con- 
sciousness. It throws the atoms apart, the con- 
fined power has a chance to come forth, the ner- 
vous tension is removed ; and gradually, as the mind 
becomes peaceful and happy, the entire physical 
system is freed, in much the same way whereby 
one is warmed on a cold day by going into the 
sunlight. 



25 

But how does this realization of the divine ideal, 
and of oneness with God through spiritual concen- 
tration, reach another person and cause similar ex- 
pansion ? Probably the best illustration of this 
process is that of the transfer of sound vibration. 
When two pianos are in adjoining rooms, if a note 
is struck on one, the corresponding chord on the 
other will vibrate.* Likewise in human speech. 
The will or desire on my part to communicate 
with you causes my ideas to take shape in language 
which you understand, a process is set up in my 
brain, transmitted to the vocal chords, and thus 
by vibration to your ear, brain, and finally to your 
consciousness. And your understanding of what 
I say is precisely dependent on the attention which 
you give to it, the receptivity to it, and the sym- 
pathy of experience. If you have entered the 
silence and communed with God, you know what I 
mean. If not, my words convey little or nothing 
to you : it is the experience or consciousness which 
avails. 

In the healing process the communication is 
very much simplified, although still of a vibratory 
character. You are receptive, and need help ; and 
I desire to help you. We sit together, and enter 
into sympathy mentally. I do not try to force my 
thought upon you, but you give me your attention. 
The sympathy between us has annihilated space ; 

* For this illustration, I am indebted to Casey, "The Problem Restated." 



26 



and, as I turn aside from the outer world and rise 
to the plane of soul silence or divine communion, 
your mind consciously or subconsciously receives 
the benefit of my realization, through this sympa- 
thetic receptivity. You may feel nothing at the 
time, but a seed has been sown in the subconscious 
mind where it will germinate and grow. In other 
words, physically speaking, work has been done : 
the healing power has been directed to the con- 
tracted or tense centre, the particles have been 
driven farther apart ; and this expansion brought 
about at the inmost centre is sure to result sooner 
or later in a change of which you will be duly 
conscious. 

There is much that is still mysterious in this 
process. But the essential, for the healer, is to 
remember that mind is fundamental, that probably 
matter itself is ultimately psychic or conscious. It 
is not always necessary even to blot out mental 
pictures,* nor reason away whims and fears. Some- 
times, it is true, if one fairly faces a fear, it may be 
easily mastered. There is a saying among the 
Sandwich Islanders, that the warrior gains the 
power of every foe he conquers. But it is not 
well to fight one's mental states, but to turn posi- 
tively away from them. See the better mental 
pictures of yourself as you ought to be, and these 
will efface the old. 

* The relation of mental pictures to the cause and cure of disease hao been 
ably discussed by L. E. Whipple, "The Philosophy of Mental Healing," New 
York, the Metaphysical Publishing Company. 



27 

The keynote to the entire process is to strike a 
new chord, to change the attention or will. It is, 
in fine, a question of placing our allegiance. Shall 
we live in the consciousness of sensation, of self, 
in memory of the past, in trouble, fear, worriment, 
in matter and circumstance ? Or shall we dwell 
upon the end to be reached through all this proc- 
ess, the larger self, the spirit, the real or eternal ? 
Shall we seek the kingdom of heaven, that all else 
may come, or seek first things, hoping that the 
kingdom may be added ? The mind is limited in 
power, and must choose*; for there is literally no 
room both for trouble and for trust. Either I am 
to look upon myself as all-important, and try to 
have things circulate about me, or I am to regard 
the infinite as first and myself as a part of it. To 
lose self, that one may find it, is, in fact, the essence 
of healing ; for, invariably, there is too great con- 
sciousness of self whenever there is illness and 
trouble. 

* For an able discussion of the changing phenomena of consciousness, see 
"The Principles of Psychology," Professor James, vol. i., chap. x. 



IV. 

True healing, therefore, means to trust God 
more, to love more, to become at peace, to get out 
of self, to understand self. It comes by laying 
fear aside, through aspiration, by becoming ad- 
justed to the body and to one's environment. It 
is not mere personal influence : it is helpfulness, it 
is love, it is sacred. It is not the giving of one's 
own strength and health. It does not exhaust. 
It is mutually helpful and renewing to healer and 
patient. 

It is helpful for a group of people to sit in the 
silence, as though one should say to the rest : 
Peace, let us be still within, and commune with 
that Presence of which all life is a sharing, to 
which all conduct should be a helpful witness. 
Whatever calamity may come to us in the future, 
let it come when it must ; for it were better that 
we should not foreknow it. Each of you will 
probably go away from here when our silence is 
broken ; but at present why not lose all sense of 
time until the hour has come ? This bit of exist- 
ence is infinitely small and trivial ; but in some way 
it fits into the great universe, and unites us with all 
that lives. Eternity is here as surely as anywhere 



2 9 

or in any time. Life is a great unbroken whole ; 
and from the centre of each consciousness, as if it 
were the heart of being, vibrations of thought and 
love extend to the uttermost confines of the whole. 
Each of us exists within, and yet is not identical 
with the Spirit, so that for each he is personally 
the Father. For each he has provided in that 
wonderful way of perfect wisdom which establishes 
the limit, sees the end, implants the ideal, yet 
leaves freedom for all to think and have experi- 
ence, freedom to sin, until at last in the fulness of 
time we shall awaken from ignorance, learn the 
wisdom of experience, and choose the life of devo- 
tion to the highest. 

From this present trouble of ours there is a way 
of escape. Self alone stands in the way. Yet 
even this is no ground for complaint. If we are 
rightly adjusted to the creative rhythm or process, 
we shall not be troubled by it longer than is neces- 
sary to teach us its lesson. Then let us be con- 
tent. Let us drop fear and impatience, in quiet 
trust and restfulness. Peace, be still ! There is 
nothing to fear. Nothing can come to us without 
receptivity or willingness on our part. We there- 
fore hold the keys to our minds. We can ac- 
complish anything through faith, with sufficient 
time. 

We are not responsible for the universe, nor for 
the lives of any of its people. We cannot fully 



30 

explain our belief in the goodness of things ; but 
the belief is there, and the only fault seems to be 
that we do not trust more. We cannot tell fully 
why we believe in God. It may seem audacious 
even to speak of him as though we had penetrated 
life's secret far enough to describe our oneness 
with him. But here again we apparently err only 
because we do not live more in the thought of him. 
This deep, fundamental basis of life is the perma- 
nent substance, or being, which goes forth as the 
word, or spirit, and expresses itself through all the 
changes of form, of space and time. 

This present, passing experience, life as you and 
I live it, is such a going forth, partaking of the 
living essence of God. It does not proceed at 
random, but is directed by perfect wisdom and 
love. Every part is adjusted to every other part, 
and all parts are governed by the one central pur- 
pose which makes the universe a realm of law and 
order. That which guides and inspires is sufficient 
for all needs. There is no opposing power to 
break and mar the creative process. All is steady 
march. No fact, no experience, no thought, lies 
outside the whole. In each fact, each thought, the 
whole is reproduced in miniature. One need not 
travel to find the whole. Space and time add no 
new principles. But everywhere, in ever-changing 
forms and in ever-fresh experience, the one law, 
the one life, the one spirit, or wisdom, is again and 
again reproduced. 



3i 

Therefore in the work of healing there is one 
central question : What is the universal will seek- 
ing- to accomplish in this particular phase of your 
life or the patient's life ? How is that tendency- 
opposed? Where is the friction located? What 
may be done to remove it ? * 

In addition to such realizations as the above, 
and the methods already described, it is sometimes 
helpful to isolate the troublesome thought or dis- 
turbed portion of the body by assuming an atti- 
tude of quiet indifference to it. If the fear of 
some possible calamity comes into mind, it will not 
be developed into an absorbing mental state unless 
one permits the intellect to be controlled by it. 
Therefore say to this part of yourself, " Anticipate 
and worry, if you will : meantime I will enjoy my- 
self." If you are restless at night, say to yourself : 
" Toss about and think as long as you choose. 
When you have finished, I will go to sleep." Or, if 
your brain is over-active in one direction, when you 
wish to think about something else, say, " Grind 
away : I am content to await in serenity." Nine 
times out of ten the relief is immediate, for the 
mind does not care to think when one is so agree- 
able. It is overcome with kindness, or, more 
truly, the seat of power has been shifted else- 
where. In the same way one may overcome ner- 

* Those who prefer specific application of the mental healing principle will 
find such a series of specific affirmations in "The Breath of Life," by Ursula 
N. Gestefeld, New York, The Gestefeld Publishing Company. 



3^ 

vous intensity by this flank movement. Start a 
centre of calmness and poise somewhere else, and 
say, " Serene, I fold my hands and wait." If you 
are willing, good nature will accomplish what 
resistance could not. 

An important point to remember in connection 
with the rapid inner changes experienced by sensi- 
tive minds, while under silent treatment, is the fact 
that the sensation is very much exaggerated. One 
is inclined to give way to fear, and, momentarily at 
least, to doubt the whole process of spiritual help. 
But, when one learns what it is that is at work, all 
fear seems absurd; for Nature will not desert us 
half-way. One cannot safely judge by sensation. 
In finely organized natures the sensations are so 
acute that one would be entirely misled by them. 
Pain, when thus read, is not an accurate record of 
truth. It is overdrawn, and, rightly understood, 
should not cause fear, but its opposite, trust. 

A sure method of rising above sensation, or 
getting out of self-consciousness, when one is too 
subjective, is to turn the attention gradually, until 
one is at length entirely absorbed by objects in the 
outside world. Pick out one detail after another 
in the scene before you, until thought by thought 
you slowly emerge into the world about you, and 
have no room left for the imprisoning conscious- 
ness of self. 

Probably the most effective way to overcome 
the tendency to wander away from this present 



33 

existence, to become partially disconnected from 
the body or project one's self at a distance, is to 
settle down into the physical body with real joy in 
the beautiful world of earth life. One should take 
regular physical exercise, and put the mind upon 
each bodily movement. It is helpful, too, to feel 
one's self alive in all parts of the body, to think 
down into the feet and become poised there. For 
always, when one is in a normal condition, one is 
very much at home in the body ; and mind and 
body are mutually adjusted. 

The clew to the entire process of healing is the 
concentration of thought upon some other centre 
or plane of consciousness, that the resident re- 
cuperative power may enjoy an unrestricted field 
of activity, in every way aided, not in the least 
hindered, by your thought. If your powers of con- 
centration are such that you can entirely detach 
your consciousness from the thought of disease, 
the sensation of pain, and carry it over to the soul, 
or spiritual side of life, so much the better. For 
the desideratum is to lift the entire process to the 
spiritual plane, to live in thought with the ideal, 
to regard mind and body rather from the point of 
view of the soul than to look upon the soul from 
the standpoint of the body. To live more with 
God, this it is spiritually to heal and be healed. 
To aspire, to hope, to love, to co-operate with God. 
For healing is loving and renewing : it is a part 
of the great creative work of the universe. 



V. 

To what extent is it advisable to give and re- 
ceive mental treatment ? Evidently, so far only as 
the recipient is unable to practise self-healing, only 
when the healer believes it right, and in cases 
where the patient feels prompted to become re- 
ceptive. For spiritual healing should be guided 
by the principle of spiritual affinity, and by the 
love motive, never by the desire to make money. 
It should be undertaken when one believes that 
one can be helpful, not for experimental reasons 
only. One should not in any case promise a cure, 
nor ought one to assume the responsibility of criti- 
cal illness. In cases where death may result, and 
mental treatment is found helpful, but not all- 
powerful, it is wiser to leave the responsibility 
with the regular physician. 

Since the mental cure is still in an experimental 
stage, and is not yet legally recognized, it is wise 
to keep well within the limits of the law. Christian 
Scientists * who have permitted people to die rather 
than call upon a regular physician, have harmed 
the cause of mental healing more than they have 
helped it by their fanatical zeal. The time is yet 

*The author wishes it distinctly understood that he does not in anyway 
subscribe to the creed of the Christian Scientists, 



35 

to come when the mental cure shall be given 
its place side by side with conventional methods 
of cure. Even then it may not wholly displant 
its predecessors. There is a great field for its 
application in connection with physical remedies. 
Whether it will ever become the sole method of 
cure, time alone can tell, since time alone can re- 
veal its limitations and further possibilities. It is 
true, many already claim that it has healed disease 
in all its forms ; and marvellous stories are current 
of sudden cures, the healing, and even the replac- 
ing, of broken bones. But the majority will believe 
such cures possible only when they have personal 
knowledge of them ; and the accurate in statement 
know that even the best healers sometimes fail 
to reach severe cases, such as blindness and 
deafness, where physiological difficulties have 
proved too great for mental power to overcome. 
Furthermore, the ideal healer has yet to be 
evolved ; for the theory has advanced far more 
rapidly than the practice. At its best, the healer's 
work is a life of self-denying service ; and there are 
not many who are ready to undergo all that is re- 
quired to heal invalids of an exquisitely sensitive 
type. The practice of silent treatment tends to 
make the healer exceedingly sympathetic and sen- 
sitive, and it is sometimes very difficult to throw 
off the mental atmospheres of patients. More 
than once I have heard healers of the sensitive 



36 

type say of this kind of work, " It is all wrong," 
meaning of course that to enter so far into the 
conditions of another, to perceive the diseased 
states of poisoned or tobacco-laden tissues, and to 
bear another's burden, is too much for any one to 
do for another. For those who have such insight 
and sympathy as this the wiser rule would seem 
to be that it is greater love to withhold than to 
give, since one is not called upon to work out 
another's salvation, but simply to indicate the way. 
Whenever there is contamination or mixture of 
mental atmospheres, one has not yet attained the 
state of development required for the most health- 
ful work as a mental healer. Such conditions 
imply that the healer is not yet sound, not yet 
sufficiently positive and strong in himself. 

However, one should not be too severe in criti- 
cising those who cannot keep free from the aches 
and pains of their patients. A large majority of 
mental healers were formerly invalids, who began 
to help others before they were themselves fully 
restored to health. It is through such experiences 
in the struggle for health that these people have 
acquired their wisdom. Actual acquaintance with 
sorrow and suffering gives sympathy which no 
theory could supplant. They know who have 
lived, not they who merely have thought. Some 
healers have suffered more than the most sorely 
afflicted of their patients ; yet this rich experience 



37 

has given them the power to help, which could 
have come in no other way. For, although a great 
many cures have been wrought by people of slight 
understanding and little acquaintance with suffer- 
ing, many cases have been reached only by these 
more sensitively organized people who have lived 
through the whole round of human ills, thereby 
learning how to cure or avoid them. 

By some it is alleged that cures are wrought 
more rapidly by the Christian Science method of 
abstract faith, the denial of disease and the asser- 
tion of health, and that consequently it is better 
not to investigate, better not to admit any limita- 
tions. Yet the experience of the past fifteen years 
shows that such work is of temporary value only. 
Many through their enthusiasm perform remark- 
able cures for a time, then find themselves unable 
to heal, because they have no real understanding. 
Their teaching and work fly aloft like a rocket, and 
fall like a stick. Moreover, one has good reason 
to doubt if the " cures " really are cures ; for actual 
facts are almost never procurable from a Christian 
Scientist. There was " nothing " troubling the 
patient in the first place : he was cured of " noth- 
ing," so there is nothing to relate. From such a 
point of view, there is naught to discuss. The 
truth in Christian Science will never be known 
until its fanaticism is eliminated ; for it rests upon 
unsound foundations, and conceals a wealth of 



38 

misstatement of which the public will some time 
be informed.* 

Again, many have been helped by the silent 
method who have afterwards experienced a relapse. 
In some cases the relapse has been so great that 
the services of a regular physician have been re- 
quired, while a few have been compelled to resort 
to medicine. The reason is evidently this : The 
mental cure may save life, and has done so in 
many hundred instances. It may give temporary 
relief, drive out pain, and cure superficial diseases. 
But the only permanent remedy is understanding. 
In the words of Dr. Quimby, "the truth, the ex- 
planation is the cure." This holds true of all 
methods of cure, of all methods of salvation, and 
of education : we progress permanently only so far 
as we understand. 

Nearly every believer in the mental cure has 
passed through an abstract stage, where for a time 
mind was deemed capable of accomplishing every- 
thing. Prudence, common sense, and the laws of 
sanitation and hygiene were set aside ; and there 
was a season of unlimited " revelry by night. " But 

* The practice of mental healing did not originate with the Christian Scientists, 
as has been claimed, but in the researches and practice of Dr. P. P. Quimby, of 
Belfast, Me. (1802-1866), who healed my parents, and also Mrs. Eddy, author 
of "Science and Health." See "The True History of Mental Science," by 
J. A. Dresser, The Metaphysical Publishing Company, New York, 1887 ; " The 
Philosophy of P. P. Quimby," by Annetta G. Dresser, Geo. H. Ellis, Boston, 
1895. I have read all of Dr. Quimby' s manuscripts, falsely reputed to be Mrs. 
Eddy's "first scribblings," in which the philosophy of mental healing is ex- 
pounded for the first time. These manuscripts, written 1859-65, were the out- 
come of over twenty years' practice of mental healing. 



39 

invariably there has been a reaction, a return to 
common sense. The time must come when every 
Christian Scientist shall likewise be " brought 
low" ; and, if some fall so far from the throne of 
abstract grace as to require the help of a regular 
physician, out of this severe lesson they will prob- 
ably learn more wisdom than is contained in their 
entire philosophy of idealistic abstraction. 

In fine, there is a lesson which common sense, 
individual thinking alone can teach. Each must 
understand his own temperament. Each must know 
how he caused his trouble, and learn by prudence 
and right thinking to avoid it. Self-help is the 
only permanent help ; and, the sooner this begins, 
the better. The altruistic healer deems his edu- 
cational work of far greater importance than the 
relief of suffering. He does not permit his pa- 
tients to depend on him after they may be self- 
helpful. Nor does he continue to give treatment 
because of the money he may receive. He advises 
his patients to grasp the principle, and apply it for 
themselves. Hence those who reflect greatest 
credit on the cause are those who have received a 
few treatments, attended but few lectures, read 
a few books, and have then begun to learn the 
lessons of personal experience. 

The radical and fanatical phase of the mental 
healing movement may therefore be deemed the 
forerunner of a genuinely rational system of spirit- 



40 

ual therapeutics. The extreme doctrine was prob- 
ably needed to stimulate thought, to awaken 
people from their servitude to material remedies. 
But, now that the awakening has come, the time 
is at hand for moderation and reason, for the union 
of forces wielded by mental healer and physician. 
For the two ought to work toward the same end. 
There is abundant need of the wisdom of both. 
On the one hand, the physician stands in need of 
the fresh investigations of the mental healer, while 
the healer is in sore need of greater physiological 
knowledge. Out of the researches of the two 
shall in due time grow a broader theory of dis- 
ease and its cure. Out of their combined teach- 
ing shall come the wisdom which will show man 
how to prevent disease. And then the time will 
be close at hand when healthier children shall be 
born, when a higher consciousness and a purer 
body shall be the birthright of man. 

When the strongest word in favor of mental 
treatment of another has been said, a sphere of 
work remains where patient evolution shall alone 
win the triumph. A time comes in the life of the 
individual when the healer's work is no longer ef- 
fectual. The process of development has become 
more central, and the developing soul must take 
up the process for himself. This may involve a 
severe struggle at first, — for knowledge of the 
power of mind does not absolve one from responsi- 



4i 

bility in the contest for life, — it may mean the 
victory over a most intense nature or the long 
process of transmutation of the sex force ; but, in 
the end, such an experience is the real solution of 
the problem of life. It is this individual struggle 
which translates theory into reality, which gives 
the soul true wisdom. Here the soul must walk 
alone for a season. Here it must display utmost 
patience, even be thankful that the experience has 
come, because of the high end that shall be 
achieved. The problem of spiritual healing thus 
becomes the problem of the spiritual life in gen- 
eral, and we have left the realm of disease for the 
domain of the soul's most trying opportunities. 
The supreme question then is : What is my place 
in life ? " What wilt thou have me to do ? " For 
the highest healing is love's supreme triumph. It 
is the dawning of the inner light, the beginning of 
the Christ-life, the complete dedication of the soul. 
Only he who enters this high realm shall know its 
full significance, only he shall accomplish the su- 
preme work of the Spirit. 



VI. 

It is important, in connection with our study of 
spiritual healing, to consider the subtle mental in- 
fluences known as thought atmospheres, at the 
same time considering methods whereby one can 
learn to control them. Every one knows more or 
less about these insidious influences, to be sure ; yet, 
although we all suffer the consequences, we are 
often unconscious of the causes until our attention 
is called specifically to them. For, if people in gen- 
eral were acquainted with these influences, many 
diseases would be avoided, unhappy marriages 
would be far less frequent, to say nothing of the 
dishonest and immoral proceedings that would be 
stopped in the business and social worlds. 

Every one knows that the atmospheres of cities, 
towns, and houses, vary according to the people who 
dwell there, and how hard it is to command one's 
self where the whole tendency is toward mere 
pleasure or money-getting or orthodoxy. Mem- 
bers of a household grow to think alike, not merely 
because they observe and imitate each other, but 
because they interchange thought atmospheres. 
Frequently two persons start to express the same 
thought simultaneously. Colds and other troubles 



43 

run through a household. If one person feels de- 
pressed, others feel it, without knowing where their 
depression comes from ; and a cheerful person will 
lighten an entire household by his mere presence. 
Clothing partakes of one's general condition, and 
it is sometimes easy to change the mind by making 
a change of clothes. Even the walls of a room 
seem to partake of one's mental state. At any rate, 
some are able to ease their minds by repapering 
and painting a house where a crime has been com- 
mitted or where people have been ill. Atmos- 
pheres accompany letters, and the acute can read 
far more in this way than by written word. In 
fact, a letter seems to establish a connection be- 
tween one mind and another, so that there is both 
give and take of invisible influence. If one enters 
a room in the dark, one can tell by the mental at- 
mosphere whether or not a person is present there. 
A similar instance of the association of thought 
with a material substance is that of food. One 
will eat and enjoy an unknown article of food until 
told its name, — something, perhaps, to which one 
has a natural repugnance ; and after that one is 
unable to eat another morsel. Doctors know well 
that much more depends upon the patient's faith 
in medicine than in the medicine itself ; and many 
times plain water or a simple white powder has 
wrought a cure, when the sufferer believed it to 
be a powerful drug. 



44 

The most startling discovery, however, is the 
extreme susceptibility of some minds to the subtle 
influences of more positive minds. Indeed, one 
sometimes asks if any soul really possesses itself, 
so close is our mental life to one another, so beset 
by hidden influences, suggestions, fears, and emo- 
tions. It is a most trying experience, from one 
point of view, to be conscious of these influences. 
Yet knowledge of them is the only protection for 
the sensitive mind, and the wisest course is to face 
the problem until it is solved. 

I do not now refer to the " pressure' ' so often 
brought to bear externally, — such, for instance, as 
the immoral use of money, trickery, demagogism, 
alleged friendship, and the emotional effects prac- 
tised by ministers. Every one has been swayed 
by emotion, and learned something concerning its 
persuasive power. Society has its eyes pretty 
well open to the phenomena of infatuation, and 
nowadays we have heard about hypnotism until we 
are tired of the word. 

But thought influence has no such warning qual- 
ities as the stirrings of passion and emotion. It is 
deep, silent, and sly, and engages another mind to 
obey it in an entirely unsuspected way. Even 
those whose motives are good may use mistaken 
methods in the fulfilment of their aims. In such 
a case the mental effects are less likely to be 
known. Even " the elect " and the honest are de- 



45 

ceived by this quiet persuasiveness ; and, before 
one knows that there is a deep-laid scheme behind, 
the mind is brought into subjection to the sugges- 
tions of another. The influence may begin through 
mixture of mental atmospheres, or it may come 
simply by looking into the eyes of a dominating 
personality. Contiguity is responsible for many 
of these unsuspected effects. As I have already 
suggested, even mental treatment, if its laws are 
not understood, may be simply a mixing of atmos- 
pheres ; and some have been made ill by permitting 
themselves to be " helped" by minds of a lower 
order. One should never make one' ' s self receptive 
to a person with whom one is not in spiritual af- 
finity. 

Avoid approaching the thought transference 
stage with any one outside of the narrow circle of 
your well-tried friends. The unscrupulous some- 
times make their desires known by this method. 
Young people think themselves in love, when the 
stronger mind is in reality dominating the weaker. 
Many a salesman disposes of goods to an unwilling 
customer because his thought is the stronger. 
Teachers w r ho permit themselves to be idolized 
obtain a power over their followers for which their 
own weakness is responsible. Always one should 
guard the weakest side, and never reveal the secret 
of its weakness to a stranger. It is this weakest 
side which involves us in many of our difficulties, 



4 6 

and we have reason to be grateful if we understand 
mental contamination in time to strengthen this 
side of our nature early in life. 

Those who sit side by side in a lecture-room 
find after a time that they have been drawn to- 
gether, and conversation follows as a matter of 
course. Every one has known people so deeply 
involved in an atmosphere that the persons were 
utterly unlike themselves, hypnotized, in fact, to 
think a witch a saint or a brute an angel. If 
people could know how wide the dominating influ- 
ence of one personality can become, it would indeed 
be a most astounding revelation. There is nothing 
more fatal to healthy individual development than 
the acceptance of another's dogma as law. The 
mind is utterly closed to reason, and there is ap- 
parently no way to arouse such a mind to a sense of 
its servitude. 

Concerning atmospheres in general, it seems 
probable that from each of us there is a sort of 
emanation, just as the odor emanates from a rose. 
Probably we are more or less affected by all peo- 
ple we meet with whom we have anything in 
common ; that is, when we converse with them, 
write to them, or become en rapport with them. 
The orator creates an atmosphere by which his 
hearers are affected, according to their receptivity. 
The revivalist works upon his hearer's emotions, 
until through this forced and most lamentable 



47 

process the ignorant are made to believe. In the 
same way one's sympathies are appealed to by 
suffering, when one is with the sick and sorrowful. 
Indeed, some find themselves so susceptible to men- 
tal influences that they are at times almost at the 
mercy of others' feelings. Frequently people are 
affected by two or three different atmospheres at a 
time, so that during a silent treatment the mind is 
freed from one person after another, until at last 
only the right individuality remains. In such 
cases the different atmospheres seem like layers, 
which are removed one after another. 

One should, of course, exercise unusual caution 
to avoid such contamination as this. The safe- 
guard is to set apart a little time each day to settle 
down to one's self, and the best way to throw off 
an unpleasant influence is of course to turn the 
attention toward one that is pleasant. Think, for 
instance, of some one whom you love, some one 
who is exceptionally pure or a person whom you 
greatly respect. Usually, it is sufficient simply 
to discover that one is involved in another's 
atmosphere, for the discovery leads to an act 
of will : one turns immediately from it. Even 
young people who are infatuated with each other 
would be freed if they could know that they are 
infatuated, if they could see themselves as they 
truly are. 

To the acute mental healer little more is neces- 



4 8 

sary in order to detect the real nature of a patients 
trouble than to read the mental atmosphere, which, 
like any first impression, reveals that which may 
be otherwise concealed. In fact, the healer cares 
more to know what this atmosphere is, and whether 
it may be readily changed, than to know the nat- 
ure of the disease. It is the disposition or tempera- 
ment of the individual which has most to do with 
the patient's trouble. 

What, then, is this atmosphere which emanates 
from a person, and which reveals so much that is 
otherwise hidden ? Is it physical or mental ? It 
seems to partake of both, for it reveals both the 
state of mind and of body ; that is, besides the 
atmosphere surrounding people which we feel 
when near them, there is evidently a part of the 
mind which shades off gradually into brain and 
nerves. The thought put into the mind as a sug- 
gestion the night before, which has the power to 
awaken one at a given hour, evidently either be- 
comes a physical state or at least gives rise to 
a physical state, calls the blood to the brain, and 
starts up the body into its waking condition. In 
the same way fear arouses a physical state and 
causes contraction of muscles and nerves. Anx- 
iety takes off the flesh and wears deep lines in 
the face. Serenity makes the brow placid. Anger 
starts up heat, and often results in headache. 

Is it not probable that, if the subconscious mind 



49 

could give forth all its knowledge, it would nar- 
rate in minute detail every slightest change that 
occurs in the body, every sensation we receive, 
every sound we hear, every thought we think, and 
every mental influence that comes to us ? And 
would it not surprise us if we could learn of the 
impression left by every mind that brushed against 
us, so to speak ? And what a wonderful process 
would be revealed, could we trace all the stages 
between a thought of fear or a word of love and 
its gradual retreat into subconsciousness, there to 
give rise to a physical change and register its 
effect in the nerve substance ! As we elect to 
think, to suggest to ourselves, to believe, to become 
interested, so shall be the result in subconscious 
phenomena. That which we hold in consciousness 
at a given time is incomparably small when com- 
pared with the vast changes wrought below the 
threshold. Evidently, there is an unlimited possi- 
bility, enlarging outwards from this present moment. 
The only serious question is, Do we know where 
we stand, or are we deceived ? If one is easily 
influenced, one must become acute enough to know 
when the influence takes place, and thus throw it 
off. But, most important of all, one must take care 
to live habitually in the right thought, that one may 
create a peaceful, health-giving atmosphere. Every 
experience will then be of benefit, if we meet it 
in the right spirit ; and no atmosphere shall harm 



So 

us if we keep free from fear. Our safety lies in 
understanding. 

If, then, the question is asked, How can one free 
one's self from mental atmospheres and contamina- 
tions on the psychic plane? the answer is always 
the same ; namely, understand whence and how 
they came. There was necessarily some point of 
contact, some channel left open. The point of 
contact may have been due to some weakened 
physical condition, in which case it is necessary to 
put the body in a pure, healthy state. One is con- 
cerned, not with the other person or persons, but 
with one's own state of mind and body, which made 
the mixing of mental atmospheres possible. Even 
if obsession be a fact, as some maintain, one has 
only one's own condition to blame, precisely as 
one should blame only one's self if, when another 
has used abusive language, one gets into a passion, 
and suffers all the torments of anger and hatred. 

Hypnotism, too, is probably impossible unless 
there be (i) voluntary submission to hypnosis; 
(2) credulity which may be played upon ; (3) a 
morbid, weakened, or diseased state of mind or 
body.* It is well, then, for all who are suscep- 
tible to external influences, to arouse the Caesar in 
them, the conquering individuality which brooks no 
obstacle, and is capable of becoming master of the 
situation. Here is where the affirmative method 

*See "The Psychology of Health and Happiness," La Forest Porter, M.D.. 
Boston : The Philosophical Publishing Company. 1898. 



5i 

is seen at its best. No weak attitude will suffice 
in such a case as this. One needs to stand up 
positively with all the power at one's command, 
and say emphatically : Never again, under any 
possible conditions, shall the sacred precincts of 
my personality be invaded by the atmospheres and 
feelings of other minds. I hereby declare my 
soul's independence. God and one make a ma- 
jority ; and I shall trustfully, yet positively, rest in 
the immanent presence, knowing that in that holy 
place I have nought to fear. 

Vampires are numerous, and one must take care 
of one's self. One must respect and be strong 
in one's self in order to be respected, just as one 
must love to be loved. To take circumstances as 
they come, without discrimination, is positively im- 
moral. One must be wise and exercise the power 
of choice, and champion the rights of the higher 
self. "You think me the child of my circum- 
stances : I make- my circumstance." Thus shall 
one grow strong in the face of all opportunities 
instead of weakening under them, if one takes this 
positive attitude, without nervous tension. It is of 
little avail to combat a mental influence. To re- 
hearse the details of one of these subtle experi- 
ences is to become more deeply involved. A day 
spent alone with nature will often suffice to free 
one from the minds of others. Intellectual work 
is also helpful ; and the more discriminative the 



52 

thought, the more likely it is to restore a healthful 
tone to the mind. 

If people try to control or subjugate me, I may 
rest calmly in my true self, in the love and peace, 
the power and protection, of the Father, and wait 
until their efforts cease. For nothing can touch 
the soul. All contamination is superficial. It 
does not affect the character. It is my own 
deed which moulds my character. If I send out 
hatred, if I retaliate, judge, condemn, or yield to 
the other's dominating spell, I consciously take 
part in the fray, and must suffer the consequences. 
If my feelings are hurt when a friend abuses me, 
it is because I descend to his level instead of send- 
ing out sentiments of charity and love. I have 
only to change my own attitude, be strong, self- 
reliant, and trustful of the higher power, to close 
the door to all influences. 

I calmly think it over, thus realizing my powers 
of self-protection. I become grateful that this op- 
portunity has come, that I have been attacked 
where I was weak, that this side of my nature has 
come to consciousness. If I take my opportunity 
now, this experience can never come to me again. 
If I calmly wait to let it settle itself without tak- 
ing a hand in it, it will come to an end so much 
the quicker. Thus I quietly, but firmly, put myself 
in another attitude, in perfect forgiveness for the 
one who sought to influence me. Perhaps he is 



53 

having an opportunity, too. The creative power is 
at work there, teaching him that the precincts of 
another mind are not to be invaded, that he can- 
not have things his own way. If I maintain this 
calm, forgiving attitude, it will help him to meet 
his problem. Is there any greater power in the 
world than this, the quiet, charitable, trustful atti- 
tude of soul where one sees the wisdom of the 
situation ? 

If one must live in a mental atmosphere of criti- 
cism and unjust demand, is it possible to maintain 
poise and health ? This question suggests the com- 
plaint so frequently made that the circumstances 
in which we find ourselves placed are "too hard/* 
and that, if we could live in a more favorable envi- 
ronment, all would be well. Yet, wherever we go, 
our problems follow us. The ideal conditions in 
which we would like to be placed would be thor- 
oughly disappointing. It is here and now, in our 
present trying experience, that life's lesson may be 
best learned. And, whether the environment be 
harmonious or not, there is just as much need to 
maintain poise and individuality. Criticism may 
make the task harder for the time. But so much 
the better, if only one persists and faithfully con- 
centrates upon an ideal, remembering that every 
experience means soul development. The persist- 
ent effort to realize the ideal will triumph in the 
end, despite all criticism, which in the end will be 



54 

turned to good account, and, rightly received, will 
make one sweet-tempered. 

But the question is still persistently asked, 
"How can I live according to the principles of 
spiritual healing among people who have no sym- 
pathy with the new principles ?" It is easy for 
those who live continuously in the right atmosphere, 
it is said ; but how are they to practise the new 
doctrine who have to meet the opposition of the 
world ? The answer is the same as that to be 
made to any one who attempts to reform the 
world, to realize an ideal or live a better life ; 
namely, be true to your best insight wherever you 
are. Quietly conform your life to it, refreshing 
yourself daily by the thought of the divine one- 
ness, without talking much about it to people who 
are unsympathetic. Little by little people will ob- 
serve the change, and will manifest far more inter- 
est in your new life than if you tried to convince 
them of the new truth. People will be impatient 
with you sometimes because you refuse to worry 
or to send for the doctor. But silent persistence 
on your part will make its impression some day. 
It is the life that tells, and there is no surer way 
to convince your friends that there really is some- 
thing in your new ideas than by actual changes in 
conduct. It is better, on the whole, to permit 
those who delight in dosing to go on their way 
without trying to influence them directly. "If 



55 

Ephraim is joined to his idols, let him alone." 
People will not receive new ideas until they are 
ready ; and, if one is too aggressive, one may arouse 
great antagonism. 

Again, there is another strong reason for hold- 
ing one's high belief and living up to it without 
attempting to teach except by example. If you 
are more open and developed interiorly than they, 
they will be quickened, helped, and strengthened, 
simply by your presence. There is no way in which 
one can help others more effectively than this, 
simply to be with them and to carry, not the sense 
of superiority, not the feeling that one has that 
which others lack, but the consciousness of the light 
and truth which is for all, regardless of personality. 

While in one sense it is easier for those who 
live in a spiritually helpful atmosphere to practise 
these principles, on the other hand the greatest vic- 
tories are won by those whose circumstances are 
most adverse. No one has learned the truth easily, 
but through very varied and often very hard ex- 
perience. Apparently, no one can avoid experi- 
ence ; and, if one is spared trials with which others 
must contend, Nature invariably offers some fresh 
problem to solve. Those who consider the subject 
for the first time frequently say there is something 
which they cannot seem to grasp. They cannot 
at first apply the healing power. But this will 
always be so until one has tried. It is experience. 



56 

even failure and renewed attempt, which conveys 
this elusive something. 

One of the first evidences that one is effectively 
practising this method of development, by making 
full use of the subconscious mind and concentra- 
tion upon the ideal or spirit, leaving outer effects 
to take care of themselves, is the gradual change in 
one's likes and dislikes. People whom one formerly 
cared for prove to be no longer congenial. One 
outgrows dogmas, beliefs, and books. In dress 
and desire for food, in one's amusements and social 
life, there is a gradual and instinctive change, be- 
tokening inner growth. In fact, there is no better 
way to elevate one's entire life than simply to 
develop spiritually, letting the outer change come 
about naturally and easily. For, if one tries to 
force one's growth and breaks off connections with 
people and things before one is ready, the change 
will not be permanent. 

The problem of mental atmospheres is therefore 
the general problem of life in a new form. Prob- 
ably a large part of the friction, and many of the 
diseases, as well as the majority of the subtle ex- 
periences we are now considering, could be avoided 
if man were to learn the great lesson of modera- 
tion, or the avoidance of extremes ; if he would 
take as his motto, " Nothing to excess/' In count- 
less ways, and with a patient persistency which noth- 
ing could surpass, Nature does her utmost to warn 



57 

us when we are approaching the normal limit, 
beyond which lie danger, misery, and insanity. 
Then she enforces her lesson by bringing upon us 
the reaction due to our own immoderate conduct. 
Yet we constantly disobey her mandates. Any 
one of these disobediences would teach us this 
secret of life's true economy. 

The wise or economical method of adjustment to 
life is well illustrated by mountain-climbing. Ob- 
serve a company of people making their first ascent, 
and you will see them start out with considerable 
energy, walking at a good rate of speed, and say- 
ing how easy it is to climb mountains. But very 
soon they find it necessary to slacken their speed, 
by and by they sit down for rest, drink considerable 
water, and then start out again, feeling stiff and 
somewhat discouraged about mountaineering. On 
the other hand, the Swiss guide who has climbed 
mountains all his life has sought out the easiest 
way. He assumes a steady pace, which he does 
not vary throughout the ascent. He drinks little or 
no water until the worst of the climbing is over. 
He does not sit down, but rests for a few moments 
at a time by quietly standing until he feels ready 
to resume the march. 

The strong, erect attitude invites strength : the 
weakened, discouraged attitude increases the sense 
of fatigue. Here is an example which one might 
well follow throughout life. Life is, after all, very 



58 

much like mountain-climbing, with its heights, its 
valleys, its sharp descents and glorious vistas. See 
the end, and then adjust yourself accordingly, rest- 
ing not in a weak, but in a strong attitude, and 
you shall gather strength for the worst difficulties. 
When the pressure upon the muscles and nerves 
becomes too great, pause for a time until the or- 
ganism is ready for more work. Pause in time, 
before the accumulation is too great to be easily 
thrown off. Disease comes from failure to observe 
this need of moderation, of rest and change of 
work ; that is, it results from too much energy 
spent in one direction. It is temporary loss of 
poise. The pain is Nature's notification that she 
is trying to restore harmony ; and, if one holds the 
right thought about it, one may rise above the sen- 
sation, quietly awaiting the time when one is ready 
to resume the habits of daily life. One may thus 
be a positive help to Nature, whereas a large part 
of our doctoring shows how utterly we neglect this 
beautiful law of life's economy. 

There is one thought, therefore, of which we 
need constantly to remind ourselves, in the en- 
deavor to apply the spiritual healing principle; 
namely, that every vital idea taken into the mind 
passes through a period of gestation. Particularly 
is this true when one receives new spiritual power. 
One seems to have retrograded and lost one's hold 
on the Power, when, as a matter of fact, it is work- 



59 

ing like leaven to leaven the whole lump. By and 
by one shall display habitually in daily life that 
which was at first a mere vision. But, when the 
vision fades and the clouds shut in again, its power 
has not gone. It is silently at work in sub- 
consciousness to make us better, stronger, and 
healthier. Our conscious part is to await Nature's 
time, and not to think that we have degenerated. 



VII. 

One of the first conclusions reached by the gen- 
eral public, when told that the mind is the chief 
factor in the cause and cure of disease, is that dis- 
ease is merely a "belief," or " idea." Consequently, 
people hope to please the disciples of the mental 
cure by saying that they have "the belief of a 
cold" or "the idea of a headache." Now, if dis- 
ease were simply a belief, another belief might 
easily destroy it. In fact, some maintain that, as 
disease is wrong thinking, its cure is right think- 
ing. In diseases of the imagination this may 
be true. But if, in general, beliefs were sufficient 
to cause disease, how soon we would think our- 
selves out of existence ! We have fears enough in 
a day to put ourselves through all the ills of life, if 
by simply believing that we had them we should 
create them. 

But it is evident that there is more in disease 
and its cure than this. When you take physical 
exercise, you do not merely believe that you are ex- 
ercising. You have an idea which you carry into 
execution. You know that there is a vast differ- 
ence between thinking and working. You are 
aware of the physical fact, of the movement of 



6i 



muscles and limbs. Likewise with pain. It comes 
involuntarily, not because you believe in pain. 
There is a difference between what you feel and 
what you think about your feeling. Suppose it is 
a burn. You can perceive the physical disturb- 
ance, feel the sensation coming from it ; and you 
also have ideas in regard to it which may help or 
hinder its recovery. There are two sides, then, to 
physical pain. This is not our arrangement, but 
Nature's universal order. Everything we perceive 
in the outer world has two aspects, — that which is 
impressed upon us from without, despite our wills, 
and the state of mind it meets within. 

Even in the case of hydrophobia, which is said 
on good authority to be a disease of the imagina- 
tion, there is the shock to the mind caused by 
something external, the blanched cheek, and the 
other physical disturbances. In insanity, which is 
admitted by all to be a mental disease, there is 
invariably a disordered state of the brain, or too 
much power called in one direction ; and in all 
mental maladies there is at least an accompanying 
disturbance of the nerves, if not of the vital 
functions. In the case of rheumatism, paralysis, 
dyspepsia, and the like, the physical disturbance is 
more marked than the mental. 

It is clear that, in order to develop a consistent 
theory of disease, one must frankly admit all the 
facts, on the one hand, which the regular physi- 



62 



cian would describe as the symptoms and physical 
conditions of disease, and, on the other, the mental 
states and causes discovered by the mental healer. 
The physician deems the physical facts so impor- 
tant that, as a rule, he calls disease physical, and 
gives material remedies, regarding the state of 
mind as a sort of emotional accompaniment. The 
mental practitioner lays so much stress on the 
state of mind that the bodily disorder is looked 
upon as an effect. Thus the two stand squarely in 
opposition. 

There should be full admission of all facts in 
regard to the physical side of life. It is here that 
the mental healer claims to have wrought such 
wonderful cures. It is because he finds the state 
of mind fundamental to the physical condition 
that he is able to reach cases where other methods 
of treatment have failed. Having admitted all the 
facts, he reserves the right to interpret them in 
his own way. Disease is defined as a state of the 
whole individual, beliefs, fears, sensations, and 
physical conditions being included in this general 
term. 

It is an insufficient account of disease in plants 
and animals to affirm that it is due to close asso- 
ciation with man. The mental healer has not yet 
offered an adequate explanation of purely physical 
disease. Nor is it at all rational to affirm that 
foods, drugs, and poisons possess such qualities 



63 

only as man's belief gives them ; for chemical sub- 
stances obviously possess qualities of their own, 
qualities whose ultimate basis is to be found, not 
in man's intelligence, but in the creative mind of 
God. It is equally vain to assert that denizens 
of the northern hemisphere are stricken with fever 
when they visit the tropics, because of mere belief 
in or fear of it. The cause lies deeper than this ; 
and, if the mental healer seeks a purely mental 
explanation of the troubles incident to climatic 
changes, this question, together with the diseases 
of plants and animals and the qualities of matter, 
must long remain an unsolved problem. 

Owing to the wide-spread prevalence of this 
theory that disease is a "belief," it is customary 
among advocates of the New Thought to ask, 
" What have you been thinking ? " when told that 
one is suffering from some disease. But here 
again the trouble is as likely to be of physical as of 
mental origin. There may be an accumulation of 
heat, fatigue, or impurity which Nature is seeking 
to throw off, in which case the disturbance is ob- 
viously physical. Thought may greatly hinder or 
help the process. Out of a slight trouble of 
this sort, fear, doctoring, and the like can create 
"real" disease. Or, if one understand Nature's 
recuperative process, the right thought may co-op- 
erate with and greatly assist Nature. But the 
mind is in such a case clearly the directive, not 



6 4 

the originating power. Everything depends upon 
the kind of thought held at the outset. The 
actual disturbance, however, is physical. 

The critic may reply that the cause was mental. 
It was, of course, the mind's fault that one went 
to excess, thus bringing on Nature's remedial 
reaction. But the accumulation, the actual trouble, 
is physical. The immediate occasion was a physi- 
cal habit, a wrong way of living. Disease is the 
result of our way of living, mentally and physi- 
cally. Its cure must come by understanding our 
defects of conduct, physical as well as mental, 
and by the gradual remedying of them through 
the application of greater wisdom : it can come in 
no other way. The simple reason why many who 
have received mental treatment have relapsed into 
their former condition, or experienced only a 
slightly permanent benefit, is because thought 
alone is insufficient. It is not enough to become 
a convert to the New Thought. The life must be 
altered. This means not only a change of thought, 
but of habit ; and habit is largely physiological. 
This is simply common sense, and one has but to 
consider it to accept it unqualifiedly. 

Do not, therefore, if you would really know the 
truth, hold to an abstract theory, refusing to con- 
sider the possibility of a physical aspect of disease. 
Value facts above theory. Ask first, What are 
the actual conditions, regardless of any theory I 



65 

wish to prove or disprove ? Then, having ascer- 
tained the facts, ask how the conditions can best 
be remedied by a change of thought and physical 
life. Seek the cause in physico-psychical life. 
Learn how by giving the forces of the body the 
wrong direction you enter into and intensify sensa- 
tion, how by turning in the opposite direction you 
help Nature. There is no permanent remedy ex- 
cept that which comes through the individual. 
Just as truly as "only thyself thyself canst harm," 
so only thyself thyself canst cure. Freedom from 
disease shall come at last through understanding of 
its total origin, and a part of that is always in one's 
inmost self. 

Again, many disciples of the new doctrine object 
most strenuously to the use of physical remedies. 
But, while knowledge of the power of thought is in 
its infancy, why not employ the best means at 
hand ? If a person is suffering acutely, there must 
be immediate relief; and common sense dictates 
that we use those aids to physical recovery which 
men have found most useful in the past. And 
what wonders Nature can accomplish during sleep, 
what efficacy in the use of hot and cold water, in 
the right kind and amount of food ! 

Some have also objected to the gymnasium, on 
the ground that one must accomplish everything 
through mind. But how else could one exercise 
the body except through mind ? Is not conscious- 



66 



ness always fundamental? Does not a phys- 
ical change always accompany the thought proc- 
ess ? How, then, is one neglecting the mind by 
exercising it through systematic gymnastic develop- 
ment ? Is not he who puts the right thought into 
his physical exercise the one who is likely to gain 
the fullest benefit from his work ? 

It is a fact, which every one may as well frankly 
admit, that the mind expresses itself fully and har- 
moniously only when the body is in good condition. 
Instances are on record where, in cases of sus- 
pended animation, the mind has been powerless to 
move a muscle, although the persons were con- 
scious of everything that was going on about them. 
People are frequently blamed for surliness and 
impatience in disposition, when they are suffering 
from some persistent physical inharmony which, 
when removed, would take away an obstacle to the 
power of mind and improve the disposition. In 
fact, if we could simply remove all obstacles of 
this sort, it is probable that this objective method 
alone would suffice to heal the mind of a large 
part of its inharmonies. But let one adopt the prin- 
ciple that all these methods are good in their 
special fields, and one may by right use of ideal sug- 
gestion,* by the experience in the silence, by wise 
physical exercise, and by judicious development of 
all sides of one's nature, become rounded out, 

* By far the ablest treatment of this subject is Henry Wood's " Ideal Sug- 
gestion Through Mental Photography," Boston, Lee & Shepard. 



6/ 

healthy, and strong to a degree impossible of at- 
tainment to the extremist. Common sense is a 
safe guide, wherever we go ; and he who would rather 
die for a principle than try another's method cares 
more for abstract theory than for universal truth. 

Is it not, then, entirely a question of the idea 
which regulates action ? If I were to help myself 
by working upon sensation alone, I should become 
morbid and discouraged. But, if I carry with my 
direction of mind the thought of the divinity 
within every particle of my being, I may place my 
consciousness anywhere, and uplift the lowest that 
is in me and make it pure. An affirmation or sug- 
gestion may help at the outset, and the affirmation 
may be true as an ideal. Yet this method is but 
a stepping-stone to realization, the habitual recogni- 
tion of the divine ideal immanent in the real. Let 
me start each time with this thought, and all my 
conduct shall be gradually lifted to the plane of 
the Highest. 

That the effect produced upon us by pain and 
pleasure in general depends upon the attitude with 
which we meet them is clear from the commonest 
experiences of life. Suppose, for example, I am 
suffering from long-continued pain, and have worked 
myself into a most distracted state of mind through 
fear. Suppose, too, in order to make out the best 
case for the tyrant fear, I communicate my mis- 
givings to friends and strangers as in general my 



68 



belief about myself. Let me now sit down quietly, 
and honestly ask myself : Now what do I really 
believe ? Do I sincerely think all these calam- 
ities are coming upon me ? Or am I pretending 
to fear that which my true self denies ? After 
careful consideration, to my joy, I find that I really 
believe all my fears are absurd. In fact, I have a 
firm conviction that I shall escape these supposed 
terrors. I actually laugh at my fears. What a 
magical effect this change of mind has ! With 
what a different spirit I approach life ! 

The conclusion of such thinking is that belief 
alone is not sufficient to kill or cure. It is discord 
of action that brings disease. Pain is an evidence 
that we have spent our energies to excess in some 
direction, that we must slacken our pace and rest. 
Instead of affirming that we are in good condition, 
common sense tells us to take means to place our- 
selves there. If you are nervously inclined, do 
not then affirm that you are poised, but act, take 
hold of yourself, remove the tension, and live more 
moderately. The cultivation of thought is for the 
purpose of teaching man how to act ; for action, 
not thought, is of primary importance. Since dis- 
ease has come by acting contrary to Nature's laws, 
its cure must come by obedience to them, by wise 
conduct. Thought and deed must therefore go 
hand in hand, and out of their union shall come 
the healthier life. 



69 

Many a case is on record of invalids suddenly 
cured when they were unexpectedly spurred to ac- 
tion ; for example, the rescue of some one in dan- 
ger or the escape from a burning building. A 
physician once entered an invalid's room flourish- 
ing a carving-knife, and, in order to start her into 
the activity which resulted in her cure, declared 
that he would cut his patient's throat unless she 
rose from her bed.* The essential is some experi- 
ence which shall make a vivid impression, leading 
the sufferer to make that move which no one can 
make for her. For the energy is quiescent, poten- 
tial, and must be made kinetic, just as one might 
rouse from one's restful position by the window 
and hasten to save the life of some one in danger 
in the street. 

The difficulty is like a problem in physical 
science. There is a certain weight to be moved. 
The question is how to apply energy. It may be 
compared to an attempt to move a heavy cart. 
The strong man applies his shoulder to it, but it 
does not move. He tries again and again, until 
finally a slight movement results. When the cart 
is once started, it is easier to maintain its motion. 
Likewise in self-help the difficulty is to begin, to 
rouse from apathy, from absorption in sensation 
and self-consciousness, to push out from within, 

* For similar instances of sudden cure, see " Facts and Fictions of Mental 
Healing," by C M. Barrows, Boston: H. H. Carter; ''Influence of Mind upon 
the Body," by Daniel Hack Tuke, M.D.,— a very able treatment of the subject. 



just as one might cheer up if a dear friend whom 
one had not seen for many months should come 
suddenly into the room. That which has many 
times happened accidentally, one can learn to re- 
peat by self-conscious methods, creating from 
within the activity needed to start the system into 
renewed life. 

If, therefore, you find yourself settling into de- 
spondency, fear, worriment, sensation, self, with 
a lurking suspicion that the worst is yet to come, 
say to yourself : " Attention ! This has gone far 
enough. I will endure it no longer. I have tol- 
erated fears in which I have no real credence, and 
adjusted myself to aches which must have no place 
in my life. I have felt ill because I have thought 
too much of myself, nursing sensation as if it 
were a joy. This day shall witness a change in 
my thought and in my life. This day shall prove 
that I am master, and not slave." 

Thereupon one should begin to make active ef- 
fort, for mere affirmation will not suffice. Take 
positive hold of yourself, of the higher Power. Then 
apply such power as your thought can direct, in 
an active, quickening manner. Open from within, 
open upward in thought, until the brain responds, 
as you would throw open the blinds and look out 
of a house. Start an enlivening, awakening thrill 
through the entire physical system, and help the 
body to respond by animated movements, as though 
you really were alive> not merely feigning life. 



7i 

Or, if the case be not so serious, apply the ac- 
tivity in a more quiet way, by starting a series of 
expanding impulses from the solar plexus, the 
nerve centre which most quickly responds to thera- 
peutic thought. Sometimes these solar plexus 
impulses come in rhythms, or beats of three, fol- 
lowed by a long breath, and possibly a sneeze, 
showing that the circulation of the blood has 
become more active. The thought of peace ! 
peace ! as of a quiet power applied to a disturbed 
nervous centre to free it from tension, is sufficient 
to carry the blood down from the head until the 
feet are warmed. Thus one is conscious of a 
bodily response, while the direct thought is with- 
drawn from the body, and focused upon the inner 
activity, the awakening and hopeful thought which 
causes the new response. 

It is of great practical advantage, therefore, to 
regard disease in the light of disturbed action 
rather than as erroneous thought, and, accordingly, 
to apply the active spiritual power, guided by 
thoughts of hope, energy, life. One may well 
afford to let beliefs and fears pass in and out of 
mind, like harmless spectres, while concentrating 
one's attention on the central problem of life; 
namely, the meaning and nature, the possibilities 
and use, of the power of individual action. It is 
the thought accompanied by the deed that is 
effective, not the mere idea. No theory of mental 



72 

healing is adequate which does not thus take ac- 
count of that which is even more fundamental than 
thought. In the analysis and development of the 
power of activity is, in fact, to be found the inmost 
clew to the meaning and perfecting of life.* 

•See "Man's Place in the Cosmos," by Professor Andrew Seth. Edin- 
burgh : Blackwood. 1897. For a fuller statement of the philosophical system 
implied in the doctrines of spiritual healing, see " The Spirit of Modern Philos- 
ophy," Professor Royce, Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1892. The theory that the 
soul has a spiritual existence aside from its passing states of consciousness has 
been very elaborately considered in Lotze's great work, "Microcosmus," trans- 
lated by Elizabeth Hamilton and E. E. C Jones. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. 



VIII. 

Another respect in which the current theory 
of spiritual healing is susceptible of progress is in 
the wider acceptance and application of the phi- 
losophy of evolution. Although its leading ex- 
ponents already believe the theory of evolution to 
be the only plausible hypothesis of the creation of 
things, a large percentage are still disbelievers in 
it, while it is not uncommon to hear or to read an 
attempted refutation of it.* This is due partly to 
misapprehension of the meaning of evolution, and 
partly to lingering belief in the old dogmas of 
creationism. In order to point out the benefit 
that would follow from a broader application of the 
evolutionary philosophy, let us first consider what 
sort of evolution the believer in ultimate spiritual 
reality is likely to accept. 

Evolution as described by men of science is in 
large part a record of physical changes, the events 
which have characterized the past history of the 
earth and the appearance of the various organisms 
and species which have led to man. It is an en- 

* Evolution is sometimes rejected because of its supposed necessary con- 
nection with the doctrine of reincarnation, an entirely different theory. Such 
an attempt is "God Incarnation versus Personal Reincarnation, Evolution and 
Karma," by M. E. Cramer. San Francisco: Harmony Publishing Company. 



74 

deavor to read the history of creation on the out- 
side. 

Thus considered, the science is still far from 
complete ; and the most important problems yet 
remain unsolved. On the other hand, evolution as 
considered by philosophy is an interpretation of 
life's history in terms of ultimate Being, or the im- 
manent Power, the resident Energy, whose omni- 
present life or activity is the immediate cause of 
the changes which evolutionary science describes. 
Science observes the details, and is little concerned 
with their ultimate background. Philosophy con- 
siders the fundamental Power, and awaits the cata- 
logue of details, as rapidly as they shall be gathered 
by science. Science must know the widest possi- 
ble data exemplifying the law. Philosophy sees 
in the law the explanation of the details. 

In the light of this endeavor to comprehend 
evolution at large and in detail, we may define the 
principle, as the law whereby the forms, com- 
plexities, and beings of to-day have progressively 
come into existence, the law by which the pro- 
gressing beings, minds, and societies of to-day 
are becoming the more highly developed products 
of to-morrow. Evolution means transformation, 
recreation, growth. Its activity does not call for 
creation of force, it does not mean its annihilation. 
It is simply the living tendency, the mutation of 
that which eternally exists. It is a march from 



75 

lower to higher, from lowest to highest, from 
simple to complex, by a gradual process of modifi- 
cation, not by interference from without, but by 
stimulation or quickening from within. There is 
no need of an external creator, only the existence 
of a resident, progressing Power, moving within us, 
and carrying onward to remoter ends that which 
already exists. Every change on the surface of 
things is, therefore, evidence of this progressive 
activity. Every slightest modification is a revela- 
tion of God, the only God in whom the student of 
evolution can believe. Its outlook is toward the 
future, — a future whose nature may, for all we 
know, be in part undetermined. It regards the past 
as the parent of the present, not as a time when 
God was any more active than now. Its ideals are 
gradually formulated ideals, slowly realized. It is 
perpetual flux, except so far as law and the sum 
total of force are concerned. Its power is uni- 
versal, owning matter and consciousness, things 
and ideas alike. It is the great becoming, achiev- 
ing life of the universe, the progressive revelation 
of God. 

Thus broadly considered, there is not an atom, 
not a star, not an accident, nor a purpose, that lies 
outside of its sphere. It is the greatest revelation 
the human mind has ever made ; and, from the time 
of the general discovery and proclamation of the 
law, every branch of knowledge has gradually been 



7 6 

falling into line, all thought has been revolu- 
tionized, and naught can stem its resistless tide. 
It is opposed by those only who as yet fail to com- 
prehend it. It is incontestably the only hypoth- 
esis which in any way accounts for the develop- 
ment of life ; and, while its application must be 
the work of many generations, the acceptance of 
the law as the true explanation is among thinking 
minds no longer matter of dispute.* If our knowl- 
edge of it has not yet explained all the mysteries, 
the discovery of the law has at least put us on the 
right track. It has taught us not to dogmatize, 
but to evolve with evolution, and learn what the 
universe shall become when the grand ideal is 
actually achieved. It finds a place for all our 
cherished, at least for all our sanest, ideals. It is 
not hostile to the spiritual life. It does not con- 
tradict our faith in free, achieving man. It is the 
universe of opportunity, it is the realm and basis 
of hope. 

Let us now consider how this great law, the 
theory of a free, progressive man, living in an 
evolving universe, carried forward by an immanent 
God, applies to the realization of the ideals of spir- 
itual healing. 

In the first place, if permanency is only relative, 

•For a fuller statement of the doctrine of evolution see " Evolution and its 
Relation to Religious Thought," by Professor Joseph Le Conte, D. Appleton & 
Co. ; "The Destiny of Man," by John Fiske, Houghton, Mifflin & Co. ; "Our 
Heredity From God," by E. P. Powell, D. Appleton & Co. 



77 

we have no assured knowledge of ultimate ideals. 
There may be an archetypal man, the perfect ideal 
or Christ. But few men as yet agree in regard to 
it. It is futile to quote the Christian Bible as 
authority, since people are unable to agree in their 
interpretations of it. In truth, each man's ideal is 
no greater than his own wisdom enables him to 
conceive. The ideal moves forward with the de- 
velopment of those who conceive it. The utmost 
one can accomplish in the endeavor to help another 
is to hold up the perfect type, as one chances to 
regard it at the time. By restating the ideal each 
time, ever seeking to picture it more clearly and 
beautifully, by regarding the omnipresent Spirit 
as even now engaged in realizing a progressive 
ideal, one may keep pace with evolution, and hold 
an ideal that is ever fresh and strong. 

How long a time has elapsed since the truth of 
evolution became known ! yet we still have with us 
the old dogma that man was created perfect, and 
fell. We still look toward the past, trying to 
read there the lineaments of perfection, to recover 
the beauties of the golden age. The philosophy 
of spiritual healing has been greatly burdened by 
this dogma. The entire practice of mental cure 
is hampered by it. It is the mill-stone of theology, 
the enemy of progress, the dirge of despair. 

Evolution knows nothing of a past golden age. 
It points to the past only as the chrysalis out of 



78 

which the progressing present has come. All that 
it logically permits us to say is that the present 
may, by our united efforts, give rise to a better 
future, which may in turn lead to somewhat better 
than that. The ideals of to-day will become the 
food and drink of conservatives to-morrow. The 
morality and spirituality of this age will be tran- 
scended by that of the next, and thus onward, 
ad infinitum. The only rational ideal, therefore, 
is experimental, tentative, progressive : the only 
rational method of attainment is the endeavor to 
take the next step in evolution. 

That this is not the usual method of mental 
healers is evident from the continued use of sug- 
gestions like the following : " I am eternally per- 
fect," " I am master of the body and all its func- 
tions." 

In support of these assertions, it is affirmed that 
to make the suggestion, even though it be untrue, 
is to help it become a fact. There is a truth here, 
as we have recognized in the foregoing pages. But 
the experience of the past decade, during which 
this method of statement has been so much in 
vogue, shows that, while thousands have been 
helped by these ideals, many have worked them- 
selves into a high-strung nervous condition, from 
which it was necessary to seek relief by other 
means. It would seem wise, therefore, to modify 
the suggestions, so that they shall not involve 



79 

untrue assumption, but aid the thought in moder- 
ate co-operation with evolution. 

Let us examine one of these assertions, in order 
to discover what it means. " I rule the body and 
all its functions/ ' In the first place, we do not 
consciously rule the body ; for its functions are 
largely reflex or unconscious. It is better thus; 
and, if one tries to control a function, — for example, 
the operation of the heart, — one may suspend the 
activity too long, as did the man who learned to 
control his heart, but one time exceeded the lawful 
limit, and stopped its beating forever. The func- 
tions of the body demand adjustment on our part 
rather than interference. He who, like a certain 
hypnotist of whom I know, suggests that the num- 
ber of pulse-beats be diminished or increased, or 
who tampers with the natural rhythm of any of the 
organs, may maim a person for life. 

Secondly, if one were really master of the body, 
the brain would be under perfect control. But 
who controls, save in a slight degree ? How shall 
this control ever be attained, except through 
gradual intellectual development ? The sex force 
would also be under entire subjection or be en- 
tirely transmuted. What a millennium ! What a 
victory ! 

I need not multiply examples to show that in 
some respects adjustment is wise, — in some cases, 
control, — and that the rational method of attaining 



8o 



control is not the assumption that we possess it 
now, but the question, How far have I advanced 
in evolution ? What degree of self-control have 
I already attained ? For the understanding of 
wherein and why I fail will best show me how to 
take the forward step. It is of no avail to affirm 
that I do succeed, that there are no failures. 
Humility and understanding, not assumption and 
self-satisfaction, lead to progress. 

But, it is maintained, there is a point of view 
from which the affirmation of perfection is true, 
in reality the soul is always free or whole, all is per- 
fect, all is good, while seeming evil or imperfection 
is an illusion. Then why should there be evolu- 
tion ? Is not this theory of the abstract absolute 
an utterly unwarrantable assumption ? In the 
light of evolution the soul is now in process of 
attaining wholeness, we are on the road to per- 
fection, all shall become good when all become 
moral and spiritual. As a matter of fact, when we 
descend from the heights of theoretical abstraction, 
we must admit that we know life only from the 
present, relative point of view, where man feels, 
thinks, and suffers according to his state of devel- 
opment. Even though I ascend to the " supercon- 
scious " plane, my experience is still mine, relative 
and imperfect. I have beheld visions of ideal con- 
ditions ; but that does not alter the fact of my 
present undeveloped condition, a state which I can 



8i 



remedy only by understanding it, through gradual 
evolution. 

I must therefore decide which form of state- 
ment is true. Shall I, in the valley, affirm that I 
am on the mountain top, or shall I recognize where 
I am, and aspire to stand upon the summit ? I 
cannot be in both places at once. The statements 
that two and two make four, and two and three 
make four, are not both true. I may believe that 
I shall eventually standupon the mountain summit, 
— that is rational, — but I can do so only by taking 
each step leading to it. If I am imperfect, I am 
not perfect ; and it is untrue to assume perfection. 
For, if I am perfect, evolution is an illusion ; and I 
need not try to take the next step. If, however, 
evolution is a fact, it is real, it bears some relation 
to ultimate Being, miscalled the Absolute. 

An absolute point of view would be a fixed 
standpoint, all would be eternally perfect, there 
would be no change, no novelty, no progress, no 
sphere of development, no moral order, no freedom, 
no ethical selves, no finite life at all. If this be so, 
the finite will is " fictitious," we are "forced" by 
suffering to grow, there is no meaning or purpose 
in life. This is, in fact, what many believers in 
this abstract theory hold to be true. The abstract 
is the real, the concrete is illusory and unmeaning. 
There is no purpose in our suffering; the Abso- 
lute does not know it at all. 



82 



To argue that because people have always be- 
lieved in the Absolute, therefore this abstraction is 
a reality, is no valid reason for belief in it. People 
universally believed the earth to be the centre of 
the universe, until Copernicus showed them their 
error. An enthroned, king-like God was once be- 
lieved to exist, until the philosophy of evolution 
compelled him to abdicate. And now another 
Copernicus, in the shape of many philosophers, 
points out the truth that all we know about God 
is the power which evolution reveals, that the 
Absolute is a myth, and God, or reality, is what our 
progressive experience proves him to be. * 

Shall one, then, settle into the consciousness of 
imperfection ? Shall the thief call himself a thief ? 
That would be untrue to moral evolution, which 
says, Recognize your misdeed for what it is, do 
not excuse it, but bring before your mind the con- 
sciousness of a better self than the present one. 
Hold to the practical ideal. Aspire with evolution, 
formulate the type to which evolution seems to be 
tending, and learn by a study of the conditions 
how to take the next step. The perfect is yet to 
be. No one has yet beheld its sublime lineaments. 
A part of me aspires to be perfect. I will therefore 
think of that. I am not wholly a thief. I have 
also a self in me that tells me it is wrong to steal. 
That self I ought to obey. 

* See " The Will to Believe," by Professor James. Longmans, Green & Co. 
1897. 



83 

I am not wholly sick. Accordingly, I will focus 
my thought elsewhere than on the part that is 
sick. I will take all wise means to become wholly 
well. But I will avoid all nervous tension that 
would arise from the affirmation that I am already 
at the goal. Is not the fact that many who have 
received mental treatment, and afterwards have 
relapsed to their former condition, due to their 
temporary assumption of health, when, in truth, 
they had not yet attained the goal ? Must not 
all who now dwell on the abstract heights some 
time come to judgment, frankly admit where 
they stand, how egoistic assumption has hindered 
their growth ? Is there any permanent or healthy 
growth, except that which comes gradually, as we 
patiently understand each detail, consciously take 
each step ? 

In a recent mental healing magazine I read: 
"To every suggestion of evil in your daily life, 
mentally declare, There is no evil. To all talk 
about evil, such as scandal, descriptions of disease, 
accounts of death, disaster, fears, discouragements, 
and danger, silently say, That is not true. Many 
cases have been healed by that simple, silent mes- 
sage." 

But of what avail to say of the facts of social 
vice or of the Armenian atrocities, for instance, 
that "they are not true," "there is no evil"? 
Alas ! the world knows too well that they are true, 



8 4 

that there is evil ; and it is useless to make denials. 
The problem of life will never be solved until we 
know why such things can be. The world will 
not be wholly beautiful until their cause has been 
destroyed. It will require somewhat beside nega- 
tions to uproot it. It must be persistently recog- 
nized as an outrageous blot upon the universe, and 
not smoothed over by " beautiful metaphysics,'* 
not ignored by the glib philosophy that "all is 
good/' 

Again I read elsewhere that, "since in God 
there is no evil, I deny that there is any reality to 
evil at all. There is no real power in sin or 
death." Yet, since there is actual evil in the 
world, evil is known in the consciousness of God. 
The God who knows nothing of evil is as purely 
a myth as the Creator who made man perfect, 
then allowed him to fall. The only logical God is 
he whose consciousness embraces just this strug- 
gling, evolving, imperfect world which you and 
I would like to see freed from evil. There is real 
power in sin and death ; and this energy we hope 
to turn, God helping, into a better channel. For 
it is the resident force of all evolution. 

Once more I read : " I am free ! I am free 
from doubt, I am free from care. I am the free 
and fearless, impersonal, selfless child of God ; and 
what I am, so are you, my neighbor, as myself." 
The whole contention of my argument is that we 



85 

are not yet free, and may become so only by 
awakening to consciousness of our servitude. I 
do not wish to be impersonal or selfless, but be- 
come more and more my individual self. And, as 
for being free from doubt, the coming of vigorous 
doubt would be the best event that could befall 
the philosophy of spiritual healing. Had doubt 
come hand in hand with belief, these moss-grown 
dogmas would long ago have been cast aside. 

What is needed, therefore, in order to free the 
new faith from creationism and its attendant be- 
liefs, is downright criticism. It is to the absence 
of healthy criticism that a large part of its irration- 
alities are due. Yet the majority of its followers 
are so convinced that all criticism is fault-finding 
or hatred that they turn away in dogmatic self- 
complacency even from the comments of those 
who have its welfare most at heart. True criti- 
cism, however, is both negative and positive : it 
reveals both defects and possibilities. It is in- 
spired by love. It doubts only because it has 
caught glimpses of a higher ideal. It is sceptical 
in statement when, by so speaking, it may stimu- 
late thought. 

In this spirit, one would like to see the postulates 
of the mental healing philosophy subjected to the 
severest scrutiny. Instead of continually affirm- 
ing that man was "created perfect," " There is no 
evil," "I rule the body," "I am free," one should 



86 



now and then ask : Is there a valid reason for mak- 
ing these statements ? What do they imply ? Am 
I affirming mere theory, or speaking from actual 
knowledge ? 

The result would be the development of a 
method accomplishing a much greater amount of 
good, because its statements would be true and 
appeal to reason. Instead of affirming that " I 
rule the body," "I am free," " There is no evil," 
the disciple of the New Thought would then say : 
" I will keep before me the ideal of freedom until, 
in the course of evolution and the discovery of the 
cause of misrule, the body shall be in every normal 
respect my servant. I long to be free. I believe 
freedom to be my right. I will therefore hope, as- 
pire, believe, at the same time trying to discover 
where, through ignorance, I still deprive myself of 
freedom. I believe, too, in the goodness of things. 
I will that the good shall triumph. There shall be 
no evil. I will do my part toward its elimination 
by first becoming better myself, more unselfish, 
more loving, by becoming truly free, truly self- 
masterful, truly wise." 

In order to make this point perfectly clear, let 
us consider yet further the rational substitute for 
this abstract system of statement. I discover in 
myself some blemish of character or imperfection 
of body. According to the abstract method I 
ought to say to myself : " I am made in the image 



87 

of God. God is perfect. Therefore, this imperfec- 
tion is a shadow. I deny its existence. My char- 
acter is unspotted. My body is the temple of the 
living God." 

But, according to the philosophy of progress, I 
find an upwelling Life within me, which, I believe, 
is working for my good, for my perfection. I will 
therefore try to become more conscious of its 
moving, that I may learn whither it is tending. I 
will use my brain, that I may understand and con- 
trol it. I will harmonize my thought with the 
natural rhythm of my bodily functions. I will try 
to be true (although I may frequently fail) to the 
highest wisdom of the moment, thereby develop- 
ing character. I will exercise my body, and make 
it consciously the temple of the living God. I 
hope some time to master myself ; but, understand- 
ing that all valuable possessions come gradually, I 
do not expect suddenly to become perfect. I ex- 
pect to learn as much from failure as from success. 
I do not ask to become precisely like my present 
ideal, only to move toward that ideal, hoping that, 
long before I realize it, a far nobler ideal shall take 
its place. My present imperfection is not a 
shadow : it is an undeveloped portion of my real 
self. It is an aspiration, a hope. Therefore, I will 
take courage. 

I seem to be of worth to the universe. In the 
universe I find law, order, progress. As I hope, 



88 



as I aspire, as I labor, so shall the result be. I will 
not, therefore, waste time by claiming to be what I 
am not, but throw myself in line with evolution, begin 
where I am to-day and prepare for the morrow. I 
will be patient and wait, trying to understand my- 
self better each day. So thinking and so doing, I 
am confident that nothing shall defeat me. I will 
earn the right to freedom by thinking myself out 
of slavery. There is every reason in the world 
why I shall succeed ; for man is a responsible, 
active agent, life has a meaning, fate is what I 
choose, and God himself cannot refuse the gifts 
which he has taught us through nature how to 
obtain. 

It is important, therefore, again and again to 
ask the definite question : Which point of view is 
the true one, that of the theoretical Absolute or 
of the actual finite ? Shall one posit the existence 
of a perfect, immutable God, unaware of evil, then 
proceed to the universe, and find it perfect now ? 
Arguing in this way, a Hindu sage says, "The 
creation of the universe is only explicable as due 
to the power of illusion : otherwise, the immutabil- 
ity of Brahma would be questioned ; for the non 
esse can never give birth to anything real." Or 
shall we start with life as we find it, and proceed 
to the logical, immanent God ? The issue is sharp 
and unmistakable. Everything depends upon the 
premises we adopt. If the abstract point of view 



8 9 

be the true one, the argument in regard to evil is 
right : There is no evil : the soul is perfect. I 
rule my body. All is good. We are all happy and 
satisfied. There is no progress, nothing to do and 
nothing to hope for. If it is wrong, these logical 
conclusions are wrong, the assertive method is 
wrong. There is actual evil, there is progress, we 
are not yet satisfied, there is everything to do, 
everything to hope for. 

In each case, therefore, where we seem to lose 
by surrendering the old faith, we are offered the 
alternative of the philosophy of evolution. Before 
some one thus tested creationism, it was easy to 
believe that God created the world out of nothing, 
and pronounced it "good." Then some one 
asked, How could this be ? and it proved unthink- 
able. In the same way, every abstraction proves 
unthinkable when we apply it to the problems of 
actual life ; for actual life, not theoretical perfec- 
tion, is the true reality. 

The methods and beliefs of the mental cure, 
when thus put to the test, evolve into the broader 
affirmations of a consistently progressive philoso- 
phy. For the principle is true. It is the affirma- 
tion, the ideal or prayer, which shapes our 
evolution, and heals. The practitioner of the 
New Thought is using the evolutionary power 
when he helps himself or another. But his 
words are often as inconsistent as are the ortho- 



90 

dox hymns sung by Unitarian congregations. 
Whereas, if the whole of life is in forward move- 
ment, entire human life and thought should be in 
harmony with it. Man is a progressive being, and 
should be approached, helped, regarded as such. 

Look upon all men, therefore, as centres of 
progress. Do not think so much of what they 
have been, of what they are, as of what they may 
become. Regard even their faults as aspirations 
for the perfect, and help them to evolve. Do not 
arrive at fixed, pessimistic conclusions concerning 
them. It is very discouraging to suffer from the 
thought of those who have thus made up their 
minds about us. But hope for the best. It is not 
too much to expect that every wrong shall be 
righted, that even the worst family feuds shall be 
adjusted. Therefore believe yourself, believe all 
people, to be on the road to freedom, health, happi- 
ness, and peace. Hold those thoughts about 
them and about yourself which are most practi- 
cal, — not the abstract, assumptive ideal, but the 
thought which concerns itself with the nearest 
step in progress. Help people to express them- 
selves, help them to think progressive thoughts. 
Try to free thought and conversation from all 
vestiges of the dogmas of creationism. Think out 
and apply the philosophy of evolution until your 
entire mental life shall be consistent with it. 
Turn the face toward the future, and build in 



9i 

creative imagination the golden age, the paradise, 
the heaven yet to be. 

Thus shall our theory of healing become truly 
spiritual ; for it shall harmonize with the idea of 
the immanent, achieving Spirit. It shall throw 
aside the garments of orthodoxy, creationism, 
fatalism, and all that now encumbers it, and be- 
come broadly progressive. Its highest endeavor 
shall be to realize the inspiration of the moment. 
" Not my will but Thine, be done," — not my ideal 
but the ideal of the Father, who reveals himself as 
rapidly as man is ready. 

The future of the philosophy of spiritual healing, 
therefore, depends upon its choice of either the 
abstract or the evolutionary method of thought. 
As long as so many of its advocates assume that it 
is already an exact science and art, while they con- 
tinue to build upon the airy foundation of the 
Absolute, to assert "the I," and to assume perfec- 
tion and omniscience, the movement will not grow. 
If it shall continue to sympathize with Oriental- 
ism, to inculcate fatalism, and ignore ethical dis- 
tinctions by affirming that "all is good, ,, its life 
will be anything but progressive. But, when it 
begins to admit its failures, to confess its igno- 
rance, to learn of the philosophy of evolution, the 
moral idealist, and the physician, and to eliminate 
absolutism, then it will take a new lease of life, 
will appeal to men of science, and enter a greatly 
enlarged sphere of helpfulness. 



9 2 

But, in the endeavor to reduce the phenomena 
and practice of mental healing to a science, let us 
not neglect the spiritual life, the real outcome of 
these abstract thought methods which we have 
been criticising. The true object of spiritual heal- 
ing is the liberation of the soul. All other ideals 
are secondary to this. All methods are of minor 
consequence as compared with the experience 
which touches this inmost heart of life. He who 
is conscious of the soul's union with the Father 
may calmly and trustfully take his stand upon this 
foundation, and let all else respond. He who is 
thus grounded heals by his presence, and has no 
need of any particular method of cure. 

In life as a whole, then, there is a gradual transi- 
tion from external methods to the inmost attitude 
of spiritual self-command. First the body is cared 
for by physical means, then through the power of 
thought. For a time one is helped by silent treat- 
ment, then the time comes when self-help alone 
avails. The process changes from physical to men- 
tal, from mental to spiritual. The object at first 
is relief from physical suffering. In the second 
stage the desire to grow is the governing ideal. 
Finally, one is not so eager to be free from suffer- 
ing as to learn its full lesson, not so eager to grow 
as to realize the eternal realities of life in whatso- 
ever condition one is placed. 

But, if one could tell what it means to live wholly 



93 

in the spirit, and let all healing come as it will, one 
could continuously abide there. What soul in the 
flesh has attained this high level, where there is 
utter superiority to, complete independence of, all 
physical sensation ? One who should have attained 
this poise would scarcely need to remain longer in 
the flesh. We are all striving for it. We are all 
endeavoring to throw off the bondage of sense. 
Yet how great the undertaking, which demands 
not only complete control of physical sensation, 
but entire mastery of self ! One can sometimes 
attain this poise for a few moments. Then how 
deep and swift the result ! All other moments 
seem trivial in comparison. Yet the right to 
such power and peace must be earned through 
patient plodding and experiment, through failure 
and struggle. All that leads the way to it is 
obviously necessary. The response would be too 
rapid if one could always attain this marvellous 
self-command. Therefore, have patience, our wiser 
self seems to say. The spirit is most responsive, 
the mind is far more moderate, and the body infi- 
nitely slow as compared with the movement of the 
spirit. While we are in the body, we must accord- 
ingly adjust ourselves to the laws of physical nat- 
ure. It is unwise to apply pressure to the body 
beyond certain very moderate limits. The body's 
methods of response are far healthier than any you 
may impose upon it. 



94 

Learn of your body, therefore, and move forward 
with its rhythm. Half our ills are due to impa- 
tience. There is an infinite source of help in sim- 
ple repose, in the restfulness of the nerves. While 
one is thus reposing, from far depths within the 
spirit shall speak, the Father, the infinite Love, 
the Christ. To hear this calmest whispering, this 
it is to be healed. To turn from sensation and self 
to that which owns and transcends all, this is the 
supreme endeavor, this suggests the exalted expe- 
rience our words would express, if possible, this is 
the soul's true freedom, this the greatest joy of 
life. 



APPENDIX A. 



TOPICAL OUTLINE FOR FURTHER STUDY. 

A, The Nature of Matter. 

i. Atomic theory. Materialism. Lange's " History 
of Materialism/ ' 

2. Theory of psychic atoms. Van Norden, " The 
Psychic Factor." 

3. Philosophical Idealism. Berkeley. Kant. Royce, 
"The Spirit of Modern Philosophy." 

4. Primary and secondary qualities, their relation- 
ship and origin. 

B. The Relationship of Mind and Matter. 

1. Physiological psychology. Titchener, " An Out- 
line of Psychology." (See a refutation by Professor 
A. Seth, " Man's Place in the Cosmos," Chap. III.) 

2. Parallelistic hypothesis, no interaction. 

3. Theory of intermediary action. 

4. Subconscious mind and unconscious cerebration. 

5. Rajah Yoga philosophy compared with the dis- 
coveries of mental healing. Swami Vivekananda. 



9 6 



C, Thought Transference. 

i. Wave-motion theory. 

2. Theory of psychic transfer from disembodied 
spirits. (See the Proceedings of the Society for Psy- 
chical Research.) 

D. Subjective Mind Theory. 

i. Hudson's "Law of Psychic Phenomena," its 
limitations and value. See also his " Scientific 
Demonstration of a Future Life." 

2. Solipsism. (See Bradley, "Appearance and 
Reality.") 

E. Theories of the Soul. 

i. No permanent ego, only passing states of con- 
sciousness. (Compare this modern view with Buddh- 
istic psychology.) 

2. Spiritual ego theory. Lotze, " Microcosmus " ; 
James, "Psychology," Vol. I.; Green, "Prolegomena 
to Ethics," Book I. ; Dresser, " In Search of a Soul," 
Chaps. I., II., IX. 

3. Creation theory. Soul disintegrates at death. 

4. Reincarnation. Annie Besant. Walker. Vedant- 
ism. 

5. Various theories of will, attention, and activity. 
James, "Briefer Psychology"; Stout, "Analytic Psy- 
chology," Vol. I. 



97 



F. Place and Meaning of the Active Principle in Man. 

i. Philosophically considered. 

2. Practical value as opposed to mere thought or 
the affirmation of ideals. 

G. The Higher Nature of Man. 

1. Ethically considered. 

i. "All is good" criticised. The problem of evil. 

2. The responsibility of high ideals in reference to 
society and to religion. (See " Ethical Religion, " 
W. M. Salter.) 

3. Meliorism as opposed to easy-going optimism. 
II. Spiritually considered. 

1. The inner self. Emerson's " Over-soul." Divine 
communion, receptivity, humility, the spiritual life, 
love, super-consciousness, intuition, the Christ. 

2. The law of spiritual development. " Seek first 
the kingdom." Poise. Meditation. Practical idealism. 

3. The ultimate value and meaning of suffering in 
relation to the spiritual life and the divine ideal. 

H. Philosophical Problems suggested by the Existence 
of a Higher Nature or Active Spiritual Principle 
in Man. 

1. Pantheism. 

2. Fatalism. 

3. Pessimism. 

4. The relation of these three inadequate views to 
the Vedanta philosophy. 



9 8 

5- Theory of the divine immanence. Is it wholly 
plausible ? 

6. Freedom and the place and meaning of ethical 
selves. 

7. Comparison of theories of reality. 

(a) Phenomenalism. John Stuart Mill. 

(b) Reality " unknowable." Kant and Spencer criti- 
cised. 

(c) Mysticism, Oriental systems, Neo-Platonism, 
Schopenhauer, Deussen's " Elements of Metaphysics." 

(d) Reality considered as the ground and owner of 
all appearances. Hegel, Bradley (" Appearance and 
Reality"), works of Professor Royce. 

(e) Eclectic empiricism. Reality what it shall prove 
itself to be. James, "The Will to Believe" ; Dresser, 
"Voices of Hope," chapter on "The Progressing 
God " ; International Journal of Ethics, July, 1898, 
" The Activity- Experience." 

Note. — The author will be glad to receive communications 
concerning this outline of study, or add to the very inadequate 
list of references. Comments on the theory of " The Progress- 
ing God " as the conception of reality which best fits the facts 
of evolution and of our moral consciousness are particularly 
desired. 



APPENDIX B. 



Topical Syllabus (issued by Clark University) 
to aid in the scientific study of the psy- 
CHOLOGY of Health and Disease. 

If you have had any experience or know of others 
who have had in the line of disease cured or pre- 
vented by prayer, teachings of Christian science, 
hypnotism, or any form of mental treatment, kindly 
contribute an account of such cases. If you have 
tried or know of others who have tried any of these 
without success, please report these also, and as fully 
as possible. 

This information is sought solely for the purpose of 
making a scientific study of the relation of states of 
mind to the conditions of bodily well-being, and will 
not be used for any other purpose. 

Write your account in your own way. The follow- 
ing topics are given simply as a guide. Do not follow 
them unless it is easier to do so. 

Your communication will be confidential if you wish 
it so. Names are never used in any case. 

Please give a few words about the temperament, 



IOO 



also give the age, nationality, occupation, and church 
affiliations of each person reported. 
Please send at least one record. 



A. The Disease, 

Hereditary ; contagious ; result of fear ; from study ; 
from worry. Duration. Age when it began. Previ- 
ous treatments. Names and addresses (when practi- 
cable) of two or more physicians who treated the case. 
Time elapsing between last treatment with medicine 
and beginning of mental treatment. 



B. The Treatment. 

Duration. Method. (Verbal suggestion, telepathic, 
silent treatment, absent treatment, self-healing, etc.) 
If reporting your own case, mention any special feel- 
ing, thought, hope, fear, or expectation while being 
treated. 

In a case of " self-healing " tell how you came to 
believe that you could heal yourself. Mention any 
books or teachers that were helpful. What was your 
method of treating yourself ? 

In cases of " absent treatment " was this method 
as satisfactory in its results as other methods? In 
such cases were you aware of the exact time when you 
were to be treated ? In " silent treatment " what in- 
structions or explanations were given at first treat- 
ment ? How was your mind usually occupied during 
the treatment ? 



IOI 



C. The Cure. 

When, in the course of the treatment, improvement 
began to be noticed. Rapid or slow. Permanent or 
relapsing. Time that has elapsed since cure. Time 
required for the cure. Strongest evidence of cure. 
Any other effects of the teaching or of the treatment 
on (your) life. 

D. Unsuccessful Treatment. 

If treatment was unsuccessful, please report "A" 
and " B " as before. Also give facts that may account 
for the failure. Report "E" as fully as possible. 



E. Literature \ etc. 

Please mention any literature bearing upon the sub- 
ject, and make a brief statement of any views you may 
hold and be willing to express. What (if anything) 
in your school education bore upon this subject or 
later became a help to you in understanding the teach- 
ing ? Do you think anything could be introduced into 
the schools that would be valuable on this line ? 
Where were you educated ? Was psychology studied ? 
Age of leaving school. Quantity and kind of reading 
since school life ended. Effect upon (your) life. 

Kindly send returns to 

HORATIO W. DRESSER. 
The Arena Co., Boston, Mass. 



Books by Horatio W. Dresser. 

Methods and Problems of Spiritual Healing. 

Pp. xox, x6mo. 

This valuable little volume contains the latest thought on the phenomena 
of metaphysical healing, and is the ripe result of many years of personal 
experience and observation. 

The Power of Silence. 

An Interpretation of Life in Its Relation to Health and Happiness. 

Ninth edition. Pp. 219, gilt top, i6mo. $1.25. 

44 The object of the book cannot be too highly commended. ... It is 
really a charming essay, clear and exceedingly interesting. ... It is a 
hearty, healthy, wholesome book ; and it will do the conservative churchman, 
as well as the advanced thinker, a great service." — New York Herald. 

The Perfect Whole. 

An Essay on the Conduct and Meaning of Life. Third edition. 

p P- 254, gilt top, i6mo. $1.25. 

41 ' The Perfect Whole,' by Horatio W. Dresser, is a deeply religious essay 
upon the conduct and meaning of life, by one who has experienced the peace 
and joy that come from the belief that one Divine Spirit is working in all 
things and through all things. The volume lays no claim^ to originality of 
thought, but there is always original thought where there is such freshness 
and depth of feeling."— The Outlook, New York. 

The Heart of It. 

Compiled from 4< The Power of Silence" and "The Perfect Whole," 
by Helen Campbell and Katharine Westendorf, with a Pre- 
face by Helen Campbell. Contains the best passages from the 
two volumes, systematically arranged. Pp. 145, i6mo. 75 cents. 
44 These extracts have been made judiciously, and compose an anthology 

remarkable for the multitude of inspiring thoughts and for the beauty of their 

expression." — Christian Register, Boston, Mass. 

Voices of Hope, 

and Other Messages from the Hills. A Series of Essays on the 
Problem of Life, Optimism, and the Christ. Pp. 213, i6mo. 
$1.25. 
44 This new book will appeal to a very large circle of readers. It is in the 

direct line of all his former works— helpful, stimulating and comforting . . . 

no one can read it without feeling the better for it." — Transcript, Boston, 

Mass. 

In Search of a Soul. 

A Series of Essays in Interpretation of the Higher Nature of Man. 

Second Edition. Pp. 273, gilt top, i6mo. $1.25. 

". . . Mr. Dresser's sane and helpful thoughts ought to be broad spread, 
for in such thinking we find something of that spiritual poise which marks the 
union of Heaven with our earth." — The Outlook. 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York and London. 



BY THE 

Rev. R. HEBER NEWTON. 

I.— Philistinism : Plain Words Concerning Certain 
Forms of Unbelief. Pp. ix. + 322. i6mo, cloth, 

$1.00; paper .50 

Contents. — Concerning Philistinism and its Goliath — Christianity 
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Nature — The Problem of Pain in the Animal World — The Problem 
of Pain in the Human World — The Historic Fact— Jesus the Christ 
— Immortality in the Light of Physical Science. 

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and stronger reasons for the old faiths."— Inter-Ocean. 

II. — Womanhood. Lectures on Woman's Work in the 
World. i2mo, pp. 315 . . . . 1 25 

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14 No woman, young or old, can read these lectures without great profit. . . . Wt 
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— National Journal of Education. 

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41 It is impossible to read these sermons without high admiration of the author's 
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MKK SS » 033 



